NASA was trying to get some form of series production for base system bus for long distance probes in late 1980s. What happened was that pretty soon the budget

NASA was trying to get some form of series production for base system bus for long distance probes in late 1980s. What happened was that pretty soon the budget got slashed, and the out of the prototype two units they barely scrambled to have one of them flown, with very complex process to balance the budget in face of constant attempts to cut it by Congress. Maybe if NASA's budget was allocated in different process, things would be different. As it is now, the people controlling the purse strings care about their reelection so they will at best jerk projects around to send money to their states, or to place their own spin on things, etc.