Building a new engine is, quite literally, rocket science. On the plus side, we know the problems can be solved, because we've done it before. On the minus side

Building a new engine is, quite literally, rocket science. On the plus side, we know the problems can be solved, because we've done it before. On the minus side, a lot of that knowledge has been lost and needs to be recreated or redesigned. We can't easily rebuild the Saturn V, for example, even though its design would work well for many of today's launches. [1] New rockets are being designed, but its a major undertaking. [2] NASA's SLS is in the $18 billion range. [3] [1] http://amyshirateitel.com/2011/04/03/the-lost-art-of-the-saturn-v/ http://amyshirateitel.com/2011/04/03/the-lost-art-of-the-sat... [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn_V#Proposed_successors http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn_V#Proposed_successors [3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Launch_System#Program_costs http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Launch_System#Program_cos...