Plenty of satellites have solar panels that convert the sun's energy to electricity and power on-board computers. But a solar sail is different. It aims to use actual light particles, called photons, as an endless source of fuel.

If successful, photons from the sun should, slowly but surely, push the spacecraft deeper into space -— without using thrusters and heavy fuels that other satellites rely on.

The concept dates back centuries. Carl Sagan, the famed science communicator who co-founded The Planetary Society before his death in 1996, once showed off a light sail model on "The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson" in 1970s.

"Forty years ago, my professor Carl Sagan shared his dream of using solar sail spacecraft to explore the cosmos," Nye said in a statement. "The Planetary Society is realizing the dream."

The rocket

The rocket is notable for more than just its power: Its three first-stage boosters are reusable and designed to guide themselves back to Earth after launch so that they can be refurbished and used again on future launches. After the first-stage cores detach, the second stage of the rocket fires up its own engine and continues on into space to finish off the mission.

SpaceX says reusing hardware saves the company big bucks, driving down the price of its rockets. With a $90 million price tag, the Falcon Heavy is far cheaper than similar rockets built by SpaceX's competitors.

Although the company routinely lands boosters after flights of its workhorse Falcon 9 rocket, SpaceX has yet to recover all three boosters after a Falcon Heavy launch.

SpaceX will again try to save all three boosters after Monday's launch.