[imtringued]

Why not just build a smaller Starship to go to the moon? It would probably negate the need for any orbital refueling. The reason of course is that Elon Musk wants NASA to fund his rocket to mars, not to the moon. I.e. technology demonstration is more important than the mission itself. This is how you get neither.

[sebzim4500]

And who would pay for it? SpaceX's HLS bid was so cheap because they were developing 90% of it anyway. SpaceX has no desire for a smaller Starship, especially since that probably means no second stage reuse.