Its likely because bringing a smelter and wire drawing machine don’t feel “space age”. Also most people think of small bases where its not cost effective to bring a bunch of manufacturing capacity as quite a few processes don’t scale down well. Mining is another issue as you would need to find good sources of each major metal within transportable distance of your base.
With the current capital cost of ~$50/W to beam power, its reasonable to think about for small endeavors, but for a base designed for 100k people making power lines onsite is better, as you will need that manufacturing capacity for other things anyway.
With the current capital cost of ~$50/W to beam power, its reasonable to think about for small endeavors, but for a base designed for 100k people making power lines onsite is better, as you will need that manufacturing capacity for other things anyway.