Business magnate Elon Musk's SpaceX is looking to send a reusable rocket into space, and bringing it back to land on a platform in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

The idea behind the platform is to make parts of the rocket reusable, lowering the cost of sending a rocket into space and back. It is one of the biggest issues currently afflicting space travel, and Musk believes rockets need to be reusable in order to successfully travel around the solar system.

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The floating platform measures 300 feet long and 170 feet wide, and is capable of holding the Falcon 9. SpaceX has already be able to capture certain parts of the rocket lost in ascension back in Earth, by mapping the space flight over the ocean instead of land.

Musk has given the chance of landing on the platform 50 percent, claiming it will be hard to navigate the platform to capture the large rocket. This will be the first of many tests - SpaceX will launch their next rocket in December, which will be a cargo mission on its way to the NASA International Space Station.

There are also issues with reusing the rocket after landing if it gets damaged from the drop. Reusing the rocket would save SpaceX millions in materials and months of time, but only if the rocket is in good enough condition to be sent back up into orbit.

This is one of the many efforts to create reusable space travel. Most space scientists believe it will be too expensive to colonize Mars until they have fully reusable rockets and other parts of the spacecraft, considering the large amount of materials needed to create a space station on the red planet.

Most analysts believe the colonization is 10 to 20 years away from happening - Elon Musk is one of the big pushers of colonization, believing it will be one of the only ways to make sure the human race survives in some form, when a natural disaster or war hits Earth.

TagsSpaceX, Elon Musk, Falcon 9, NASA, reusable rockets