Here's your culprit: Mtotal = Mempty * e^(deltaV/Vexhaust) If you work backwards from launching a couple of hundred tons from the moon, you end up needing all

Here's your culprit: Mtotal = Mempty * e^(deltaV/Vexhaust) If you work backwards from launching a couple of hundred tons from the moon, you end up needing all these refueling flights. Compare that to the 2.5 ton mass of the Apollo ascent stage. The rocket equation does not play.