As the Trump administration works to compile a list of infrastructure projects totaling $1 trillion, Florida's space industry, already in the midst of a Mars-focused renaissance, could emerge as a prominent beneficiary.

  • Senate approves $19.5 billion in NASA spending
  • Sen. Bill Nelson spoke to students at FAMU about the space program
  • Nelson, Florida space leaders hope president will be a 'space president'
  • RELATED: Rocket launch schedule

After promising on the campaign trail to be a "space president," President Trump chose Florida's Space Coast as the site of his first post-inauguration political rally last week. While he didn't specifically mention the space program, some aerospace advocates believe the venue selection was more than coincidental. The high wage jobs that could flow from increased space industry funding, they say, would square well with Trump's jobs agenda.

The nation's space program is already rebounding from the retirement of the Space Shuttle in 2011, with NASA in the final stages of designing and testing the rockets intended to launch the next-generation Orion capsule.

The new equipment is slated to be used for a human mission to Mars in 2033 and would receive a new round of funding under an appropriations bill that passed the U.S. Senate last week and is expected to clear the House next week.

"That's been formulated over the last three years, so let's hope that the new administration, indeed, keeps us going on the course that we're going, because that way, we're going to Mars," said U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL), who visited Florida A&M University Monday to speak to students about the space program.

The administration has yet to release any specifics about its infrastructure plan, and work on the plan is said to be behind schedule. Democrats unveiled a $1 trillion package last month, but so far it's gotten a cool reception from Republicans in Congress.

In public appearances, however, President Trump has suggested the plan will be wide-ranging.

"We need members of both parties to join hands and work with us to pass a $1 trillion infrastructure plan to build new roads and bridges and airports and tunnels and highways," Trump declared last week in Melbourne.

Whether the list will also include more rockets and capsules is an open question that's inspiring speculation, as well as behind-the-scenes lobbying.

"To be determined. We haven't heard," Nelson told reporters of the White House's thinking.

But, he told the students, America's once-moribund space program is poised to grow in importance, with or without additional help from the administration.

"Not only is the sky the limit; we're going to punch right through the sky - we're going to the universe!" Nelson proclaimed.