NASA plane early morning take off from Adelaide Airport as part of the Hayabusa2 mission
Western suburbs residents were woken up in the early hours of this morning by a plane leaving Adelaide Airport – but there’s a out-of-this world reason for takeoff.
West & Beaches
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Western suburbs residents under the Adelaide Airport flight path were woken at about 1am this morning – but for an out-of-this-world reason.
A NASA aircraft took off from the airport this morning in preparation of the Japanese space probe Hayabusa2 landing near Woomera this weekend.
The probe has special cargo on-board – the first sub-surface asteroid sample to be returned to Earth.
It is only the second time Japan’s space agency has landed a capsule in the SA desert.
A representative from the Australian Space Agency confirmed NASA had planes in Adelaide as part of the Hayabusa2 mission, for airborne observations.
Netley Residents Association Robert Owen said while he was not woken this morning by the plane, he had heard of others that were jolted from their sleep.
Mr Owen said, ideally, residents would be given some kind of warning before these types of noisy, early morning flights.
“It’s disappointing because AAL (Adelaide Airport Limited) would have known prior (to the plane taking off) and they really haven’t taken any effort to let people know,” he said.
“I think with this type of disturbance, particularly at this time of the morning, some warning should be given.”
Local MP Tom Koutsantonis said his office received some complaints today about the flight.
“Western suburbs residents are prepared to put up with airport noise, because of what the facility means for the economy, but when flights like this are going to happen, they’d like to know about it ahead of time,” he said.
“Residents would be a lot more understanding if they were given some advance notice.”
A spokesman for Adelaide Airport said the curfew which runs from 11pm to 6am does not prevent all aircraft movements during the curfew period but limits them.
He said in exceptional circumstances, such as the space probe landing, operators can apply for curfew dispensation.
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