Colossal Archive

The subject of this article is from the Worlds Part I update.
The information from this article is up-to-date as of 3 September, 2024.

Colossal Archive is a point of interest.

Summary[ | ]

A Colossal Archive aka Planetary Archive is one of the various Points of Interest in No Man's Sky.

A type of habitable outpost with a series of multiple physical Landing Pads, and a range of different terminal and NPC interaction possibilities.

These inhabited structures are equipped with several items of interest:

Multiple NPC lifeforms which may interact with the player in a similar manner as those in a Trading Post.
A Guild Envoy which functions similar to an envoy on a Space station.
A Local Information Repository terminal which, when interacted with, grants a Artifact Chart for 15 nanites.
A Technology Merchant which also sells goods not sold by other merchants (such as Antimatter Housings and Drop Pod Coordinate Data)
A Galactic Trade Terminal which, like terminals at Trading Posts, offers superior prices for marketed tradeables compared to terminals on space stations
Five or Six landing pads which can be visited by NPC or human travellers similar to a trading post.
At least three Artifact Exchange Vaults (one on the skywalk, two at ground level) which allows the operator to exchange an artifact for one of potentially higher or equivalent value.
A Planetary Archive (aka Celestial Archive) terminal providing race-specific lore. Requires some knowledge of the race language to operate.

It can be discovered by using Planetary Chart (inhabited outpost). Upon discovering it, the chart will say "planetary archive" located.
Multiple instances per planet/moon are possible.
You can repeatedly find colossal archives by using the planetary chart multiple times. Once a chart has found a colossal archive, keep using planetary charts (the game will give an error saying that a place has been already been found) until you receive the global scan and the search will always guarantee a colossal archive. Repeat this in the same solar system.
The guild envoy assigned to the Space Station will hold the same inventory as those envoys found on Planetary Archives.