Lunar space stations are under planning.

"The Gateway space station will be humanity’s first space station around the Moon as a vital component of the Artemis missions to return humans to the lunar surface for scientific discovery and chart the path for the first human missions to Mars. Astronauts on Gateway will be the first humans to call deep space home during missions where they will use Gateway to conduct science and prepare for lunar surface missions. Credit: NASA, Alberto Bertolin, Bradley Reynolds" (ScitechDaily, NASA and SpaceX Are Building the Most Advanced Space Station Ever – In Lunar Orbit)

NASA and Space X are planning a new space station orbiting the moon. This station would offer a good base for moon research and can also operate as a platform for lunar-orbiting operations. Those systems make it possible to test the modular- self-assembling structures. 

The lunar-orbiting space station can use things like space hooks to raise spacecraft from the moon. That decreases the need for fuel. Another way to make the moon operations cheaper is to use mass drivers. 

Mass-drivers are giant electromagnetic rails to launch capsules from the moon to Earth. 

All those capsules must not have the ability to transport a crew. The mass driver can also transport one or two person- capsules to the Earth. 

The journey to the moon station can happen in two stages. The first launch system transports crew to the Earth-orbiting space station. Or Earth orbiter. At the orbiter, the launch system separated. 

Then the moon transport stage docked to the shuttle. In the last case, there is no need for travel between those crafts. The operation on the moon is far easier than on Earth. The moon shuttle can be like a cylinder. 

Those self-assembling structures mean that the space station is made of modules that can dock together from remote control. That kind of system is a very good thing for many civil and military operations on the moon. The large telescopes on the moon can serve as scientific and intelligence instruments. 

Those telescopes see things like stars. And they also see military bases on Earth. Lunar orbiting- and lunar base large telescopes can serve both: civil and military purposes. Large space telescopes can operate at longer distances from Earth than traditional recon satellites. That protects them against land-based ASAT systems. 

The national interest of the lunar missions is the reason for the threat that somebody makes the missile base on the moon. During the Cold War era, the Soviet Luna-16 spacecraft was believed to be the test for nuclear weapon launch from the moon. The missile can be the rocket that landed on the Moon. Then the operators will launch it using the remote control. 

Then we think about things like Mars missions. 

Those missions require nuclear rockets. Nuclear rockets can be assembled at the Earth orbiter.  The system can be modular. The rocket's modules will be launched from Earth. 

Then system docks those modules together at the Earth orbiter. The AI-controlled systems can put those modules together. The only difficult thing is how to make the body that is long enough to keep the reactor as far from the crew as possible. The radioactive radiation from the reactor is dangerous.  

But otherwise, the simple shield between the reactor and crew module is enough. The nuclear-powered unmanned systems require radiation shields because that radiation damages computers and disturbs other instruments.  The main problem is nuclear rocket fuel. The lightweight reactors require very highly enriched nuclear fuel. 

The highly enriched plutonium or neptunium is dangerous. If there is some kind of accident. Highly radioactive materials will pollute large areas. It's possible to transport that Mars craft to the Moon's orbiter. Where the nuclear fuel can transfer to the reactor. The launch system can carry those nuclear elements to the Moon orbiter in very strong capsules. In small doses.  And if there are some problems debris falls to the Moon. 

https://scitechdaily.com/nasa-and-spacex-are-building-the-most-advanced-space-station-ever-in-lunar-orbit/