William> Based on a large number of inputs, I conclude that the Merlin
William> used to cost less than $1 million each; $9 million per first
William> stage and directly comparable to the plus $20 million for an
William> RD-180. Most of the much lower cost of the expendable Falcon
William> 9 appears—to me—to be a consequence of high engine production
William> rate compared to the competition.
William> That advantage must be declining with reuse.
But wouldn't they also be a bit farther along the automation route,
where making each of those engines is more controlled, since they've
had the time/numbers to shake out bugs in assembly, etc. Then if the
line slows... it's not as big a loss since they've amortized their
sunk costs over a larger production lot.
Plus, I suspect they plan on building lots of rockets...