Obama sets Mars target for NASA

Washington DC: U.S. President Barack Obama on Thursday set the National Aeronautical and Space Administration on a firm trajectory to a Mars landing when he said: “By the mid-2030s, I believe we can send humans to orbit Mars and return them safely to Earth. And a landing on Mars will follow.”

In a speech on space exploration in the 21st century, delivered at the John F. Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, Mr. Obama said that by 2025, he expected to see new spacecraft designed for long journeys that would allow the United States to begin “the first-ever crewed missions beyond the Moon into deep space”.

In redefining some aspects of his administration's space exploration policy, Mr. Obama said he would be providing even more funding for NASA projects in return for which he expected them to meet the challenge of the need for “breakthrough propulsion systems and other advanced technologies”

As part of this strategy the White House announced earlier this year — amidst some harsh criticism — that it would be ending parts of the older Constellation programme and instead invest more in newer programmes such as Orion project.