[mglz]

> On the Moon you can do the simplest thing that works and if it works at 10% efficiency and breaks after 1 year - so be it, if it's enough time to get resources to make a new one.

The opposite it true: You can throw away things on Earth and have local industry produce replacements. You cannot cost-effectively bring equipment to the moon since you have significant launch costs. Optimizing for light-weight and reliable machines is inherently costly. There is no escape from gravity here.

> That's all fine if it means it can work with lunar materials only.

There is no manufacturing capability on the moon and you need to price in the cost of setting up such an industry through the bottleneck of lauches.