NASA launched a new deep space probe from Florida today sending its Psyche spacecraft 2.2 billion miles from Earth toward one of only nine known metal-rich asteroids. It’s the 14th planetary exploration mission in NASA’s Discovery program managed by the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville.

The space agency thinks this asteroid between Mars and Jupiter may be part of what it calls a planetesimal – a planetary building block – and may tell us more about the Earth’s formation. But looking for a planetesimal isn’t its only mission. The spacecraft also hosts NASA’s Deep Space Optical Communications technology – the first test of laser communications beyond the Moon.

Psyche launched at approximately 9:20 a.m. CST today on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The launch appeared flawless with the main boosters landing back at Cape Canaveral.

Powered by solar arrays, Psyche will take six years to get to the asteroid. Then, it will begin a two-year period of scheduled scientific observations. Marshall’s role is making sure the mission team has what it needs to get to launch. The center also watches the bottom line of costs.

“We ensure the project teams have all the resources they need to execute the project, monitor costs and schedules to keep the project on track and on time, and work closely with the payload and launch teams throughout the flight mission,” Brad Zavodsky, Psyche mission manager in Marshall’s Planetary Missions Program Office, said in a pre-launch interview.

Joel Robinson, Deep Space Optical Communications manager at Marshall, said he and Zavodsky serve as “conduits,” between directorate-level technology and science leadership at NASA Headquarters and the Psyche and DSOC project leadership – both of which are managed at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

The program office teams at Marshall include program planning and control personnel, independent technical authorities, and procurement and acquisition specialists. These technical experts provide the Psyche and DSOC missions with all necessary guidance and direction throughout their respective development and programmatic life cycles.