Save scumming all-but-guarantees that the player isn't going to interact with the part of the game that involves recovering after a rough battle, dealing with a D-modded ship, or having to plan for contingencies while exploring. It takes significant inspiration from Roguelikes, in that sense - a lot of the game's fun comes from being able to handle anything it throws at you.
The problem is that there isn't, in fact, a part of the game that involves recovering after a rough battle. There's no clock, no enemy scaling with time, nothing to actually make the setback meaningful. The only punishment is more grind, and since credits can be farmed infinitely with zero risk via trading/smuggling/exploration, there's not even an incentive to take more risks to recover faster.
In proper ironman games, ther's a limit to how many mistakes you are allowed to make. Roguelikes have food clocks and/or limited XP for that reason. Games like x-com have enemies becoming stronger with time. If you suffer a setback, you now need to take more risks to get back on the schedule, or you will fall behind and lose. In starsector, you just need to mindlessly grind risk-free moneymaking missions more.