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Elon Musk’s SpaceX is preparing for its craziest rocket test yet

Published Dec 29th, 2014 10:00PM EST
SpaceX Rocket Test Ocean Platform Landing
Image: SpaceX

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Tesla isn’t the only potentially revolutionary company founded by Elon Musk, as the Tesla boss is also the CEO of SpaceX, a company that’s trying to make space travel feasible for more people. One of the biggest projects that SpaceX has been working on has been the development of reusable rockets that are able to land safely on the ground again, which would make space travel much more cost effective than it currently is.

RELATED: Watch this incredible video of Elon Musk’s reusable rocket in action

A big problem with space travel right now is that it’s very wasteful — the rockets that help propel space shuttles into the atmosphere fall off once they reach a certain height and are often completely unsalvageable after they crash back down to Earth. Earlier this year the company started showing off its Falcon 9 Reusable (F9R) rocket that can fly about 250 meters into the air before slowly descending back to earth and landing safely on the ground.

Now CNN reports that SpaceX is preparing for its most ambitious and craziest rocket test yet — early in 2015, it’s going to try to safely land one of its rockets on top of a barge in the middle of the ocean.

How insanely difficult is this feat? CNN writes that to make the landing successful, SpaceX needs to “hit a bullseye that’s 10 meters wide,” which is only made more difficult because this particular bullseye will be constantly in motion.

To learn more about how challenging this new test will be, check out CNN’s full report at the source link below.

Brad Reed
Brad Reed Staff Writer

Brad Reed has written about technology for over eight years at BGR.com and Network World. Prior to that, he wrote freelance stories for political publications such as AlterNet and the American Prospect. He has a Master's Degree in Business and Economics Journalism from Boston University.