The US space agency, NASA is set to launch its latest Sun probe on Wednesday from Cape Canaveral, Florida, with an aim to have a better understanding of the sun, whose shifting magnetism and roiling surface can threaten Earth's satellites, power grids and communications systems.

The Solar Dynamics Observatory is reported to get the detailed images of our star. An active Sun can disrupt satellite, communication, and power systems at Earth - especially when it billows charged particles in our direction.

Lika Guhathakurta, the SDO program scientist at NASA Headquarters quoted, "It will observe the Sun faster, deeper and in greater detail than any previous observations, breaking barriers of time, scale and clarity that have long blocked progress in solar physics".

A 19-story United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket bearing the satellite is scheduled to blast off at 10:26 a. m.

The nearly 15 feet tall spacecraft, weighs above 3 tons and is the first mission of NASA's Living with a Star program initiated in 2001. Over at least five years, the $850 million mission promises to provide the most detailed look yet at the sun, inside and out.

The UK contribution in the mission is worth applause. It has initiated with provision of camera detectors and their associated electronics, which underpin two of SDO's instruments.