Don't try changing the figures by introducing a straw-man concept.

We're NOT talking about a whole self-sustaining colony with metal refining, machine production, food, and babies.

We're discussing the notion that a few brave (stupid) souls go out there to try to eke out survival for 5-10 years with no guarantee of return or longer resupply.

Rather similar to an ISS on the moon, but without the CRV. Say 4-6 people, landed near an icecap or a source of proven subsurface permafrost as a source of ice, plus a nuclear plant for power to melt and electrolyse it to H and O.

Sure, the reactor makes it real heavy, but that's about the same challenge as delivering a Mars return vehicle, especially if you go the Mars direct route of requiring a chemical rocket fuel factory and power source.

The issue then is, what is 5 years' supply of dried food and vitamin pills going to weigh, plus a few spare spacesuits and digital cameras. Everything else you consume, cannibalise, repair, or discard.

Oh, plus Nitrogen...