Credit: NASA / Airborne Visible Infrared Imaging Spectrometer-3 (AVIRIS-3) / Lauren Dauphin
The tragic and destructive LA fires have left thousands of people without homes, and have taken the lives of at least 25 people.
Aside from the human toll and the pain of losing one’s home, countless classic architectural landmarks have been lost as well. From mid-century modern gems, churches and cathedrals, and historic mansions, the destruction is vast.
NASA just revealed that the Eaton fire, which destroyed much of Altadena, got incredibly close to burning one of their premiere installations, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
The 177-acre campus is home to over 150 buildings, and employs over 6,000 people. The campus is home to some of the most high-tech equipment on the planet, including a number of labs and test facilities found nowhere else on earth.
NASA revealed that the Eaton Fire reached within one kilometer (.6 miles) of the campus. The surrounding Altadena neighborhoods and natural areas have been decimated.
Among JPL’s facilities include a major Mission Control center, spacecraft assembly rooms, and much more.
Despite all of the devastation, there’s a little bit of relief that scientifically important places like the Jet Propulsion Laboratory survived.
Members of NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover team study data on monitors in mission control, Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021, at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. A key objective for Perseverance’s mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet’s geology and past climate, pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)
NISAR DTM First Motion TVAC Test Requester: Scott Nowak Photographer: Gregory M. Waigand Date: 2020-08-26 Photolab order: 070915-177020
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