Exploring the Unknown - NASA's History Office

508
Figure 13. Return on investment
Plant first unit cost was determined to be a major cost driver and its effect on the
return on investment for a ten plant operation is shown in Figure 15. This first unit cost
effect is in contrast to DDT&E cost, which has a lesser effect because it is spread over the
total number of plants. The sensitivity of return on investment to plant first unit cost illustrates
the importance of designing a silicon ribbon processor and plant for efficient serial
production.
[10]
Return on Investment*—%
Figure 14. Cumulative cash flow
SPACE AS AN INVESTMENT IN ECONOMIC GROWTH
50
40
30
20
10
Cumulative Cash Flow—$M
29.5%
* After Taxes
Selected Baseline
(10% of 1985 LSI Market)
0
0 5 10
Number of Plants
15 20
600
400
200
0
-200
-400
Selected Baseline
(10% of 1985 LSI Market)
Plant Launch
DDT&E Production
Number of Plants 20
0 2 4 6 8 10
Years
10
5
1