[jyl]

Really? A huge part of the cost in a major aerospace program is the design, development, testing, engineering, solving novel problems and inventing new technology. The actual manufacturing of the vehicles is often a minority of the cost.

Look at the F22 - the total program cost is appx $65BN, but the total production cost of 187 planes is only about $26BN. Not sure why a major NASA program would be different.

In the "we recreate the Saturn V" hypothetical, most (or more) of the design, development, testing, engineering, solving novel problems and inventing new technology process has been done. Not so with the Ares I IV V programs, although they are planning to re-use technology, like the J-2 engine.