Later this month, Spacex may launch an upgraded rocket that can mark a big leap forward in space flight history.
Elan Musk's' Spacex has been working with reusable Falcon Nine rockets.
In fact, the company just launched a used rocket at the end of March and it plans to fly more used rockets later this year.
But recently, Some used Falcon 9 rockets have been discarded into the ocean.
So how many times can these rockets be reused before being thrown away?
Right now the answer is maybe two times but that will change.
SpaceX has been working on a more powerful version of the Falcon 9 booster that can handle being reused.
Up to 100 times.
We're talking about the fifth model of the Falcon, it's called the Block 5. And this could take flight later this month, maybe as early as April 24th.
The April flight is to launch a satellite for Bangladesh.
And if the rocket lands back on Earth successfully, well, it may be used again and again and again.
And it's that kind of reusability As SpaceX needs to handle the task of building that human colony on Mars.
So as for these older versions of the Falcon 9, reports say engineers felt that it wasn't safe or economical to use it more than twice.
So the company is trying to use them up now and then discard them.
But the hope is that with the block five model it can handle many, many more trips before being thrown away.
What's your take on the future of the Falcon 9?
Sound off in the comments.
I'm Bridget Carey and you can read up on more of the latest adventures of SpaceX at CNET.com.
