UMass Lowell Research Scientist Susanna Finn tests the LITES device, which is set for launch Saturday from NASA's Kennedy Space Center. COURTESY Joson Images for UMass Lowell

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LOWELL -- A SpaceX rocket carrying technology built by UMass Lowell scientists is set for lift-off at 10:01 a.m. Saturday from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The instrument, known as the Limb-Imaging Ionospheric and Thermospheric Extreme Ultraviolet Spectograph (or, simply LITES), is designed to take images of different wavelengths of ultraviolet light. It also makes visible the molecules and atoms in the Earth's upper atmosphere, what's referred to as the "ionosphere" by scientists.

"I'm very excited to have worked hands-on on an instrument and then get to see it hopefully and successfully launch into space," UMass Lowell Research Scientist Susanna Finn, who helped build LITES, said in a phone interview from Logan Airport on her way to Florida. "Going into the space station is a very cool and kind of a surreal thing. I'm certainly hoping for smooth sailing. It's certainly been a long time coming."

Finn said she's been working on this project for three years. If launched successfully, the research scientist added, the device will be mounted on the International Space Station at the limb of Earth, or edge, where she and her team can see the Earth's atmosphere.

"Because it's a spectograph, we can separate the light in visual wavelengths -- the light that's coming from specific atoms and molecules in the upper atmosphere," Finn explained. "This part of the atmosphere has a lot of irregularities and a lot of bubbles and these things can affect communication and GPS signals and navigations.

According to a release, by studying these images, Finn and other scientists hope to learn how these irregularities affect radio signals as a way to improve how satellites and GPS navigational tools function.

UMass Lowell Physics Professor Supriya Chakrabarti, who directs the university's Lowell Center for Space, Science and Technology, is leading the project. He said the device was shipped to the Kennedy Space Center over a year ago because originally the team was supposed to launch in January 2016.

"This is sort of a very anxious moment," the professor said Friday while en route to Logan Airport. "Launching is a great celebration, but this is not the final thing. We would like to see that it gets to the right place to collect data."

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UML technology ready for lift-off - Lowell Sun