The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) will launch a new satellite that will closely probe a region in the sun that is claimed to be the driving force of space weather that affects Earth. Aboard a Pegasus rocket, the Iris satellite was thrust into low-Earth orbit of 400 miles above the planet's crust and scientists are still on the testing stage.

When it is cleared, Iris' telescope will be turned open to provide a better view of the little-explore solar region. In a recent interview with NASA TV, launch director Tim Dunn is thrilled with the findings that they can get from this mission. With a task as extraordinary as this, the way Iris was launched was not typical either.

From Vandenberg Air Force Base in Lompoc, California, an airplane flew to the Pacific Ocean about 100 miles away the main California coast. When it reached the altitude of 39,000 feet, the rocket was released. This then triggered its engine to continually go upward. The rocket continued its journey towards space for 13 more minutes before the satellite fully separated.

The launch was not entirely smooth sailing for communication waves between the control base and the satellite was interrupted for a while. This prompted the controllers to monitor Iris' whereabouts in relation to other NASA satellites in outer space. The delay in communication meant that the confirmation regarding the satellite's unfurling of its solar panels to acquire power came in late.

Also, the launch was delayed for a day because technicians had to fix the power lines responsible for the launching equipment after a massive outage in the central coast. Meanwhile, the launching Pegasus was first used in 1990 and is owned by Dulles, Virgina's Orbital Sciences Corporation. Aside from launching small satellites, it is also used to boost the speed of hypersonic flight vehicles.

In previous missions to the sun, satellites mostly took back pictures of solar flares which provided a ton of information about its behavioral patterns. The Iris weighs 400 pounds and is seven feet long. Its ultraviolet telescope will capture high-resolution portraits of a solar region between the star's corona and surface. This area is depicted by a bright white circle that can be seen during solar eclipses.

The NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory hopes that this satellite will help explain the link between the mysterious region and solar winds that are scattered from the sun. In the long run, the expedition aims to have accurate predictions of space weather which is vital in making the most of Earth's communication waves.

The Iris satellite and the entire mission costs $182 million and it will be maintained by the Goddard Space Flight Center. Engineers who will embark in the monitoring of the Iris will undergo health check-ups for two months before getting a clearance for their task. The Iris satellite will monitor the sun for two years and it has sophisticated capabilities to peek closely into the less-known region. With reports from AP