Obama will announce new strategy for human spaceflight

President Barack Obama will announce tomorrow a new strategy for human spaceflight that increases the NASA budget by $6bn over the next five years.

In his speech at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the US president will unveil the possibility for developing a new heavy lift rocket that could eventually launch future manned deep-space spacecraft intended to explore Mars and the rest of the Solar System. President Obama will state a final decision to fund the rocket development programme will be made in 2015.

The new rocket would take advantage of $3.1bn set aside in the NASA budget for investment in heavy-lift research and development over the next five years. This propulsion R&D effort will include development of a US first-stage hydrocarbon engine for potential use in future heavy lift and other launch systems. Other research in areas such as new propellants, advanced propulsion materials, combustion processes and engine health monitoring are also expected to shorten the development time for any future heavy-lift rocket.