MQABBA — NASA has confirmed that fireworks from last Saturday’s village festa in Mqabba were audible aboard the International Space Station, orbiting approximately 408 kilometres above the Earth’s surface, making it the first recorded instance of a Maltese festa being classified as a “detectable seismic and acoustic event” by an international space agency.
”At approximately 23:47 GMT, crew members reported hearing a series of rapid concussive blasts originating from the central Mediterranean,” read a statement from NASA’s Johnson Space Center. “Initial analysis suggested a volcanic eruption or military engagement. Further investigation revealed it was a village party.”
The Mqabba Festa Committee responded to the news with restrained pride. “We always knew our fireworks were the best in Malta. Now we know they’re the best in low Earth orbit as well,” said committee president Pawlu Farrugia, who noted that plans for next year’s display would “take this into account."
"We’re thinking bigger,” Mr. Farrugia said, gesturing toward the sky with both hands. “If they could hear us at 400 kilometres, imagine what we could do with a 20% budget increase. We could wake up the crew of the Mars rover.”
Not everyone was impressed. Residents of neighbouring villages have long complained about the intensity of Mqabba’s pyrotechnic displays, which this year included what witnesses described as “approximately forty-five minutes of continuous explosions that set off every car alarm within a three-kilometre radius."
"I live in Żurrieq, which is two villages away, and my windows rattled so hard that a painting fell off the wall,” said Carmen Galea, 72. “It was a painting of the Madonna. Even She couldn’t take it.”
The Mqabba band club has already commissioned a commemorative plaque reading “Our Fireworks: Heard From Space” to be mounted on the club’s facade, alongside existing plaques celebrating victories in various inter-village band march disputes dating back to 1923.
NASA has since updated its monitoring protocols to include “Maltese festa season” as a known source of anomalous acoustic readings between June and September.