NASA is in search of the Holy Grail of how hurricanes form.

Last week, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration launched its Genesis and Rapid Intensification Process experiment, the agency's first domestic hurricane project since 2001. The goal is to uncover the exact conditions required to turn a tropical depression into a hurricane, something that has mystified atmospheric scientists.

“Hurricane formation and intensification is really the Holy Grail of this field,” Ed Zipser, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Utah and one of three program scientists leading the project, told NASA's earth science news team.

The experiment will feature aircraft from NASA, the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration and the National Weather Service. The craft will fly over storm-producing weather systems to gather data on storm and hurricane formation.

Flights, which began Aug. 15, continue through Sept. 25.

NASA satellites will monitor the movement of a storm across the Atlantic as aircraft monitor the internal structure of the storm.

“That's what makes this really unique: the ability to observe one of these storms up close as it changes over its life cycle. Before, we've only been able to get a few hours of data at a time,” GRIP Project Manager Marilyn Vasques told NASA's earth science news team.

“We want to see storms that become hurricanes and we want to see some that don't become hurricanes, so we can compare the data,” Ms. Vasques said.