Perhaps there could be a chance, even if small, to keep a repair kit if an upgrade fails?
Is the repair kit used up on a successful upgrade?
On the topic of using up tool kit, could they (and perhaps some other items/parts) have 'quality' be applicable to them? That is, to have more expensive versions that have multiple 'uses', or have some bonus to success or other reason to use more resources on what might otherwise be a single use item.
Or maybe have a 'higher quality' version be like a portable container that holds several copies of the same item, or a 'package' that is added to storage to spawn multiples of the basic item. Like a 'part' or 'tool kit' version of the food or medicine packs in the early MC:C stages.
While the chance to try the newest version sounds interesting, I've been dealing with a lot of things in the past few months, so I don't know if I would be in the right mind set to be a proper 'tester' at this time.
Edit:
I had some related ideas.
Was going to post in the Gameplay topic, but it pops up a 'warning' about not bumping older threads unless needed. And I don't know if this stuff best put here, the gameplay thread, the base building thread, etc.
Of there being options for 'alternative' parts/components/equipment for building up or otherwise maintaining a base.
Stuff that brings things like MacGuyver and Apollo 13 to mind.
Jury rigging, improvising or otherwise cobbling together parts or equipment when things don't go as planned.
Like MacGuyver, those kind of skills to jury rig stuff would be invaluable asset for a remote colony (and for groups of 'trouble shooters' at the main base or back at 'Mission Control' on Earth). It gives a reason for there to be an option for jury rigged/improvised stuff meant more for emergency situations or resource shortages. It also makes me wonder if Swiss Army Knives would be an applicable tool for Martian colonists... Imagine getting your nice new base up and running, and realizing there is no way to make oxygen. Maybe initial supplies are missing one or more separator components, or the water pumps, or the separator in general, but there are materials on hand to make something like oxygen candles, or to recycle the present air (e.g., a greenhouse using some space for plants that are good for air but not food), so things can be kept going until the proper stuff can be made or delivered.
Some 'events' could focus on such situations relating to how many parts or tool kits might be on site. A hidden requirement for such events being the player has what is needed for an improvised item, but not what is needed for a full replacement. The basic goal being to utilize improvised stuff to keep things going and keep equipment 'working' until proper replacements (or resources to make them) can be acquired.
Also on the subject of making jury rigged parts. An optional 'mission' (or very hard difficulty 'start') that involves having to jury rig a basic 'abandoned' outpost into some semblance of basic operational capability, and work from there to getting it fully fixed up and working. One possible basic premise, a rover breaks down and getting stranded, the only chance for survival is to use an old outpost that was previously abandoned for some reason. Either to hold out long enough to await rescue or re-supply, or actually getting it up and running and making it self sufficient to some degree, making it a fully operational base. Or simply being assigned to see if the outpost is salvageable and still viable. For background stuff for such a situation, perhaps an NPC is thought to have 'abandoned' it as being a lost cost, with the mission commander feeling said NPC simply gave up to quickly, that available materials were not properly/efficiently used. A good test of getting a base up and running with minimal initial external support/supply by utilizing whatever is on hand.
Or just seeing how much someone can do with the Martian equivalent of a lemon in base form.
Maybe there are some useful and usable ideas or bits of inspiration in that bit of random stuff that you can use at some point or another.