You can get a firsthand look at Mars Friday.
The European Space Agency is conducting the first ever livestream from the Red Planet.
"During Friday's one-hour livestream, the time between the images being taken from orbit around Mars and appearing on your screen will be about 18 minutes," the ESA said. "That’s 17 minutes for light to travel from Mars to Earth in their current configuration, and about one minute to pass through the wires and servers on the ground."
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The mission is being conducted in celebration of the 20-year anniversary of the launch of the Mars Express. It's an orbiter with a small camera attached.
James Godfrey, spacecraft operations manager, said the camera wasn't designed for this purpose, but he's optimistic this mission will be successful.
"Normally, we see images from Mars and know that they were taken days before. I’m excited to see Mars as it is now — as close to a martian ‘now’ as we can possibly get," he said.
The livestream will take place at 12 p.m. Eastern. Click here to watch.
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