DSCOVR Launch
NASA is set to launch the Dscovr satellite Sunday at 6:10 p.m. EST. NASA

NASA is launching a new solar-wind satellite Sunday. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Deep Space Climate Observatory (Dscovr) will monitor space weather from close to a million miles away. The launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Space Launch Complex 40 in Florida is set for 6:10 p.m. EST, but Dscovr live-stream coverage is slated to start at 3:30 p.m.

Earth is constantly bombarded by particles from the sun. We pay the most attention to these solar particles during solar flares. These events eject a huge amount of particles toward Earth that can cause radio blackouts, while affecting satellites and even astronauts aboard the International Space Station. Aurora is caused by the interaction between solar particles and Earth's magnetic field.

Solar wind is not a threat to people on Earth, thanks to the planet's atmosphere, but a huge solar flare could be disastrous. In 2012, we barely missed an outburst that could have destroyed communication systems around the world and led to trillions of dollars in damage. A coronal mass ejection, or CME, a blast of plasma -- extremely hot, charged gas -- associated with a solar flare just missed Earth in July of that year. Under slightly different circumstances, scientists believe the event could have affected everything from your household electronics to your toilet and water systems.

"If it had hit, we would still be picking up the pieces," Daniel Baker, of the University of Colorado, said in a statement.

In 1859, Earth wasn't so lucky when subjected to the Carrington event. Powerful CMEs struck the planet, caused telegraph lines to spark and catch fire while aurora could be seen as far south as Cuba.

The Carrington event was pretty close to a worst-case scenario, so Dscovr will be used to improve NOAA's real-time space-weather forecast. Dscovr will provide new data to support NASA's Advanced Composition Explorer, or ACE, mission, which NOAA uses to predict space weather. The solar-wind satellite also has three scientific instruments that will be used to gain new insights into solar plasma.

Plasma makes up a large percentage of the universe, and there are a number of things we don't understand about solar plasma. One mystery researchers hope to investigate with Dscovr is why solar plasma cools down slower than expected. "There must be some heating mechanism that slows down the cooling. The solar-wind instruments on Dscovr will help us determine what's providing that extra heat," Adam Szabo, NASA’s Dscovr project scientist at NASA Goddard, said in a statement. The solar-wind satellite will monitor the movement of positive- and negative-charged particles and the alignment of the plasma's magnetic field.

Earth's influence would normally pose a problem for the study of solar wind, but NASA has a perfect location that's 932,000 miles from the planet. The area is known as Lagrange 1, and it is outside Earth's magnetic field. The gravity there is perfectly balanced between Earth and the sun, and Dscovr can orbit Lagrange 1 like a planet, according to NASA.

Adding more intrigue to the launch will be SpaceX's attempt to land the Falcon 9 after DSCOVR reaches orbit. SpaceX attempted to land on an ocean platform after its most recent Commercial Resupply Mission in January.

Dscovr will launch atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Florida Sunday at 6:10 p.m. EST. NASA's live-stream coverage begins at 3:30 p.m. EST and can be viewed below.