I made a similar argument to explain that science fiction technologies like "asteroid mining" won't improve the cost of everyday products like cars. Even if the

I made a similar argument to explain that science fiction technologies like "asteroid mining" won't improve the cost of everyday products like cars. Even if the material costs were reduced to zero, the sticker price would remain essentially unchanged. Elon Musk made a similar point about the inefficiency of NASA-style rocket construction. The "raw materials" to make a rocket cost something like $500K, but the completed launch vehicle is often north of a billion dollars. The SLS program currently costs a whopping $4B per launch! Even if you got all the "expensive" materials like titanium or carbon fibre for free, the SLS launches would still cost too much.