President Barack Obama’s plans to overhaul NASA, announced in his last budget, didn’t go down too well with some people (here, here and here). His plan included the scrapping of the Constellation human space flight programme, and a push to have commercial companies responsible for human space flight in future (see Science lines up for seat to space).

In what the Wall Street Journal is calling a “political counterattack” Obama has announced that he’ll be outlining his space exploration plans at a conference in Florida on April 15.

Details about the conference are sparse, but speculation abounds. Space.com quotes Florida’s Democrat Senator Bill Nelson claiming that he’s asked Obama to announce a new goal for NASA: Mars. And according to Nelson, Obama has agreed. “What I asked the president to do is to announce the goal of Mars, which they have indicated that he will, and then to flesh that out while setting a reasonable time frame and then how they would proceed with the architecture," Nelson is reported as saying.

The Orlando Sentinel has Nelson saying that the agreement on Mars is less firm. “We’re going to have to see what he says,” Nelson is quoted as saying.

A commitment to a manned mission to Mars will need a lot of kit to be developed. Let’s wait and see what Obama says on April 15th. If he manages to persuade his detractors that his plans are a good idea, he’ll have on a major battle.

Image: Ares-1, NASA.