This is the beginning of a long journey into the eye of the storm.

So we're getting ready to deploy.

This cutting-edge tool, called a sail drone, is 23 feet long, packed with cameras and sensors, and it's changing how scientists track hurricanes.

I think with the changing climate and the intensification of these hurricanes and storms, it's critical that we better understand them.

The drones can withstand powerful winds, even 50-foot waves, giving scientists a view of hurricanes they've never seen before. This is video from a sail drone in 2021, in the middle of Hurricane Sam, as winds whipped over 100 miles per hour. But first, it has to be released into the ocean.

So we just left St. Petersburg, Florida, and this tow boat is towing the sail drone into the Gulf of Mexico. Its ultimate destination will be determined by mission control managers back in San Francisco.

It will send data back in real-time, like wind speed, wave height, and ocean temperature, to help scientists better understand how hurricanes strengthen.

So it's all building up to improving forecasts, improving predictions to help give people more preparation and more lead time warnings.

We just passed the Skyway Bridge, and we're about three more miles until we're in the Gulf of Mexico, closer to the point where we're going to be deploying the sail drone.

This drone and 11 others like it deploy from hurricane zones like here in Florida, the Virgin Islands, and North Carolina. Sail drone mission managers are back in San Francisco controlling them and working with their partners at the National Oceanic and Atmispheric Administration to redirect them to chase the storms.

We made it to the Gulf of Mexico, the final deployment site for the sail drone. It's going to go out to sea for about three months and come back to St. Petersburg, Florida, in November. We are ready to deploy.

This sail drone now starting its mission.

Are you hoping that information that's collected from things like these sail drones can actually potentially save lives?

Yeah, that's the ultimate goal. We want to save lives, protect property.

The drone now on its own, ready to sail into the future of storm prediction. Priya Schreither, NBC News on the Gulf of Mexico.

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