President-elect Barack Obama, once he takes office later this month, could remove the barriers between the US Department of Defense (DoD) and NASA, in an effort to help the U.S. space agency better compete with Russia and China.

The most important task for NASA is to build a new rocket capable of carrying Orion to the International Space Station (ISS), with a future mission to the moon likely.  The U.S. space agency originally planned to have the Ares I rocket take Orion into space, but President-elect Obama wants to try and get Orion into the air as soon as possible.

"The Obama administration will have all those issues on the table," former President Bill Clinton's space adviser Neal Lane told Bloomberg.  "The foreign affairs and national security implications have to be considered."

The current generation of space shuttles will be retired next year, and there will be a five-year gap between the shuttle retirement and the scheduled release of Orion.  Ares I completed its first preliminary design review last year, with Boeing and Alliant Techsystems prepared for a first launch in 2015.  

The Pentagon's space program spent about $22 billion in 2008, which is one third more than the NASA budget during the year.  Obama's transition team already has asked NASA officials how plausible it would be to cancel the development of the Ares I rocket in favor, though current NASA Administrator Michael Griffin said it would be a mistake.

The NASA review team will continue to ask NASA space officials about different methods related to costs and savings, although nothing is official.  

Obama would like to have Orion ready to launch before 2015, but the launch will not be possible without a proper rocket system.  If a cash injection from the Pentagon is unable to help have Ares I completed sooner, then it's possible the government may use either the Atlas or Delta rocket, as both are in later stages of development compared to Ares.