Image: View of NASA's CYGNSS hurricane mission launch from chase plane

Hurricane forecasters will soon have a new tool to better understand and forecast storm intensity. A constellation of eight microsatellites, called NASA's Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System mission, or CYGNSS, got a boost into Earth orbit at 8:37 a.m. EST today, Dec. 15, 2016, aboard an Orbital ATK Pegasus XL rocket.