re: Potentially, but not necessarily
I think your barking up the right tree...
The key to the whole plan would be developing scaleable transit modules that are fully reusable: Once in space, they would stay forever in space, be used, refueled attached to additional or new payload modules, and re-used again and agian...As we get better at the technology, we could combine several transfer modules, or build a larger/more capable transfer module, that would have the capability of sustaining a crew on a long term trip to Mars, or some other space destination. Nuclear power would probably be key part of such a module.
Like a submarine in space, but with the capability of ferrying payloads to multiple destinations.
Scott Evil