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We pretty much all know that STS is costly to launch and refurbish. However, lately I have been wondering where most of this cost lies. How much, reletively speaking, lies in;
TPS repair?
Refurbishing the SSMEs?
General after-flight maintainance?
Payload handling?
ET construction?
SRB recovery and refurbishment?
Stacking in the VAB?
Pad operations including rollout and tanking?
On orbit operations?
Ground handling and 'safing' after return to Earth?
Furthermore, if you were to redesign or "redo" STS, what would you do to reduce the costs of the reuse cycle?
TPS repair?
Refurbishing the SSMEs?
General after-flight maintainance?
Payload handling?
ET construction?
SRB recovery and refurbishment?
Stacking in the VAB?
Pad operations including rollout and tanking?
On orbit operations?
Ground handling and 'safing' after return to Earth?
Furthermore, if you were to redesign or "redo" STS, what would you do to reduce the costs of the reuse cycle?