To me, this is a major dysfunction of the NASA model.
Why wasn't 5 Hubble telescopes launched? The marginal cost for the other 4 must have been vastly smaller than the first. Observation time on the original Hubble is still, after 30+ years a scarce resource. With 5 of them, we could have gotten vastly more science done at smaller cost.
I don't have a fully fleshed out theory for why, but part of it is that NASA as a government organization is ultimately a political endeavour, and it will have to optimize for what makes politicians look good in the press, rather than what gives the most science bang per buck.
Why wasn't 5 Hubble telescopes launched? The marginal cost for the other 4 must have been vastly smaller than the first. Observation time on the original Hubble is still, after 30+ years a scarce resource. With 5 of them, we could have gotten vastly more science done at smaller cost.
I don't have a fully fleshed out theory for why, but part of it is that NASA as a government organization is ultimately a political endeavour, and it will have to optimize for what makes politicians look good in the press, rather than what gives the most science bang per buck.