>There's very little in the way of savings because most parts are custom fabricated. The parts need to be tested, integrated, then tested after integration. To

>There's very little in the way of savings because most parts are custom fabricated. The parts need to be tested, integrated, then tested after integration. To piggy back on the the GP's point, the fabrication research is only one small cost center. Quality control costs much more in aerospace than many people realize. The reason why a bolt may cost $150 is because it has to be tracked, material coupons kept/tracked/tested, held in bonded storage etc. and not because we had to figure out how to make a bolt. Those costs don't come down as much with scale as, say, raw material. If it were all about knowledge costs, many designs today would be dramatically cheaper because many use technology (and even refurbished rockets) from 50 years ago.