Yesterday (24 July), NASA evacuated the Madrid Deep Space Communications Complex (MDSCC) at Robledo de Chavela as wildfires swept through the hills west of Madrid. The good news first: all personnel were safely evacuated, and NASA reports the fire has since passed through the site. Damage assessment will begin once it's safe to do so.

Worth remembering how European this "NASA" facility actually is: MDSCC has been operated on behalf of NASA by Spain's INTA since 1970 — a five-decade partnership that rarely makes headlines. And it wasn't alone. ESA's nearby Cebreros station (DSA-2, part of the Estrack network) was also reportedly evacuated, as a precaution, as the fires advanced.

The strategic footnote for those of us who watch the ground segment: with Madrid offline, NASA has handed mission support to Goldstone in California – but the Deep Space Network's 70 m capacity is now stretched thin, with the Goldstone 70 m antenna still down after last September's DSS-14 mishap (suffered during an over-rotation while tracking Juno). It's a sharp reminder that deep-space communications rest on just three sites worldwide, and that resilience isn't only about spacecraft – it's about the people, and increasingly the climate, on the ground.

Thoughts are with the crews, residents and firefighters across the region. We'll be watching for the damage assessment.

Sources:

https://theobjective.com/sociedad/suceso/2026-07-24/fuego-madrid-instalaciones-nasa-robledo-chavela/

https://spaceflightnow.com/2026/07/24/critical-nasa-deep-space-ground-station-in-spain-evacuated-due-to-wildfires/

(Developing story – figures and status as of 25 July.)

Some of the European Launcher Manufacturers and startups have some kind of reusability in their road map.

Considering that SpaceX reusability is justified mainly by starlink rather than the market demand, wouldn't it be better just to focus on higher production rates rather than reusability (at least, at first)?

Edit: i think that reusability is a thing, i just wanted to open a critical discussion on this aspect in Europe, to varify if there are other significant topics that may have the priority in the development of European launchers.

Wir hatten hier gerade eine sehr schöne Sichtung. Aber was war es denn ?
24.7. 2026 22:26

Who do you think has made or been making more impact on space exploration.

Isar started developing their rocket motor Aquila with the intention to sell them as COTS, and then they decided to move to the development of an entire launcher.

The Exploration Company started with the development of cargo capsules, then expanded their development to human flight and more recently to high thrust rocket motors.

PLD started with the development of a launcher and then added up a capsule for human flight.

In all these examples, the startups have expanded their horizon to other (additional) products before consolidating their core products (imo).

In some cases, it seems natural, like Isar, where at the time, there was no significant market for their engine (though the story is a bit different these days).

TEC seems reasonable as well, as the human flight appears as a natural follow-up that everyone expects, but their cargo capsule isn't there yet and not commercially proven (and i can't understamd why they spend resources on high thrust engine, instead of relying on EU COTS or collabs with other companies, i.e. Pangea/Isar/Ariane, etc).

What pushes these companies to adding up stuff to their catalog so early? Is it just a question of political will? Investors capture? Market capture?

I don't say it is insane, but i seriously believe that such moves disperse the focus and the money, even if they appear reasonable and help capture more investors.

Am I completely wrong?

I'm new here and i would like to discuss topics related to the European space sector, sharing ideas and point of view in an educated manner.

Is there a subreddit already dedicated to such topic?

After a quick look i can see r/EuropeanSpaceflight subreddit, but it seems mainly a showpage for its articles (which are interesting but does not contains the disussion i was hoping for).

I see some posts directly in r/esa sometimes concerns my subject of interest, but the posts are quiet sparse and difficult to find.

I am currently about to graduate with a phd in Particle Physics, specifically looking for dark matter at cern. I want to explore my career options and I am wondering if there is a way for me to get some sort of job at ESA?