🚀 go-pugleaf

> ...  Why is it, that to
> remanufacture the old F-1 engines is more expensive than using SSMEs?

My guess would be that the problem is not so much cost as uncertainty.
The F-1 production line shut down a long time ago, and it's not clear that
the tooling and plans were preserved properly.  (To say nothing of the
analogous problem with subcontractors, e.g. the people who used to supply
small quantities of very precisely formulated alloys -- they may not even
be using the same production processes nowadays, which would make it very
hard to be sure that the resulting alloys are exactly the same.)  There's
no doubt that production could be restarted; the hard part is restarting
it accurately enough that you don't need to start engine testing all over
again.  Even small variations in materials could affect things enough to
make it a gamble to fly new-production F-1s without a thorough test program.
Hughes can't afford such a test program if it's going to make the deadline
for the USAF MLV contract; as it is the Jarvis will be a bit late, although
Hughes hopes that the large payload will make up for this.
-- 
				Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
				{allegra,ihnp4,decvax,pyramid}!utzoo!henry