Obama sets US sights on Mars

President Barack Obama is set to outline a revamped space policy that will use $6 billion in new funding to create 2,500 new jobs in Florida with the ultimate goal of going to Mars.

Mr Obama has been facing criticism over the direction of space policy after NASA officials announced plans in March to kill the Constellation programme that had been designed to launch astronauts into orbit and return Americans to the moon.

But White House officials said that President Obama wants NASA to begin work on building a new heavy lift rocket sooner than envisioned under the cancelled Constellation programme, with a commitment to decide in 2015 on the specific rocket that will take astronauts deeper into space.

"This is a rocket that is going to happen two years earlier than would've happened under the past programme," a senior White House official said.

To ease the transition for workers dislocated while the new space strategy is being implemented, Mr Obama is proposing to dedicate $40 million to transform the regional economy around NASA's Florida facilities and prepare its workforce for the new opportunities.

"This new strategy means more money for NASA, more jobs for the country, more astronaut time in space, and more investments in innovation," said a senior White House official.