JF Mezei wrote:

On 2017-05-09 22:28, Jeff Findley wrote:

RS-25 is hella expensive and ULA already knows that LH2/LOX produces a
large, expensive, vehicle (e.g. Delta IV).


With the R&D money given to Rocketdyne to enable production of more
SSMEs, has it given any hints that the incremental unit cost would come
down significantly with modern tooling compared to the orgiginal SSME
production ?


The first six will cost about what the original SSME engines cost
(around $58 million each in current dollars).


(aka: once beyond the first 6, would additional ones become competitive
on a per pound of payload basis ? (engine only).


One would expect subsequent RS-25 engines to cost less as the 'kinks'
are worked out of the production and test processes. However, these
engines will always be more expensive than engines like BE-4 or Raptor
(or even AR1), so they're never going to compete on a price per pound
basis.


--
"Millions for defense, but not one cent for tribute."
-- Charles Pinckney