rschmitt23 wrote:
that the Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV), the space agencies latest and
greatest orbiter replacement, will cost $15B to develop.

I know that this would not be a popular suggestion, but how much would it cost
to build new shuttles nearly identical to the existing ones ?

How much more would it cost to add in all the improvements NASA has wished it
could do (electric APUs etc) ?

How much more would it cost to replace SRBs with liquid fueled flyback
boosters ? (or whatever technology is deemed best to replace the SRBs) ?

How much more would it cost to rework the engine area to make it simple, fast
and cheap to remove/replace engines ?

Would there be any significant advantage in having the SSMEs attached to the
ET instead of actual shuttle ? (either as a capsule with its parachutes for
re-usability, or using disposable engines).

Instead of dreaming of a totally radically new vehicle NASA has no idea how to
build, wouldn't it be more realistic to just build new and improved shuttles ?
If you start with the base model and then add each new improvement, at one
point, you will reach the "sorry, we can't afford this" level, at which point
your new shuttle's designed is finalised with only the improvements you can
afford ?

Yes, I know all the tooling for shuttle is gone. But the tooling for CEV
doesn't exist either. However, there are a lot of things about Shuttle which
are still manufactured (tiles, engines and I am sure countless other
components that are regularly replaced).