Space Station

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.

Uduohek VIII Orbital SS Exit — Space Station interior - Orbital

Space Station is an orbiting platform found in most star systems.

Summary[ | ]

Space Station is a large alien spaceport able to be docked with a starship, providing a trading centre, mission hub, and means to travel to habitable bases.

Aside from uncharted systems, these stations can be found in every star system throughout the game, giving players a safe place to land. The exterior appearance of a space station can vary greatly, the most notable being a damaged appearance in abandoned systems.

Details[ | ]

Visiting a space station provides the opportunity to buy a new starship, create your own starship (currently limited to Fighters, Explorers, Haulers, and Solar ships), upgrade or scrap starships, upgrade Multi-tools, purchase or sell resources and Upgrade Modules, talk to or hire NPC characters, and obtain missions.

Docking at a space station involves flying into the station tractor beam, a blue shaft of light coming out of the space station opening. This will automatically pull the ship inward and through a corridor that can vary in length before landing it on one of eight landing pads. Landing will set a player's SWL (Space Wanted Level) to zero, making them useful to escape sentinel starships.

Once you land at a space station and turn towards the core, there will be two floors in the interior and two amenities on each floor (see the Amenities section for more details). Though the interior of each Space Station does have randomly generated assets, the placement of amenities is always the same.

When leaving the space station, the Pulse Engine will not work until the player's starship is a safe distance away. Each space station has a randomly generated length of the hallway. Shorter hallways will have traders arriving more quickly. System conflict level determines how many traders will arrive overall before petering out.

Amenities[ | ]

In-game guide refers to the "right-hand side" when looking from outside the station into the runway. The following amenities can be found in a space station:

First floor, from left to right:
- A Mission Listings Agent
- Galactic Trade Terminal
- Station Terminus Teleporter (looks and works like a Base Teleport Module)
- A Cartographer selling planetary charts
Second floor, from left to right:
- Technology Merchants for exosuit, Multi-tool, starship and exocraft upgrades
  - Multi-Tool Upgrade Terminal is next to the Multi-tool technology merchant
- A Guild Envoy offering various rewards and accepting donations
- Cargo area (decorative)
- Station Core behind the merchants
Back-end, from left to right:
- Starship Outfitting Terminal
- Starship Fabricator Terminal
- Appearance Modifier
- A Scrap Dealer is hidden under the stairs, selling Emergency Broadcast Receivers for detecting Derelict Freighters and purchasing recovered Crew Manifests and Captain's Logs.

Special[ | ]

NmsSpaceSation Spaceview — Atlas Interface

There are special space stations that show up as a anomalies in space, they appear in addition to the regular one.

Atlas Interface: Will open up Alien Anomalies, you can ask Polo for Atlas Interface coordinates.
- This space station has a long walkway to an altar where you can talk with the Atlas; some Atlas Interfaces will have two Warp Cells at the foot of the altar. You can also learn some new Atlas words by walking around the station onto the glowing dots.

Space Anomaly: this space station includes the NPCs named Polo, Nada and Quicksilver Synthesis Companion, along with many others. They all speak the player's language rather than that of their race.
- The station also offers research for most researchable blueprints, has it’s own mission station (Nexus) and many other features.

Abandoned Station[ | ]

NsmSpaceStation Abandoned — Abandoned Station

Abandoned stations can be found in abandoned systems. This station can be identified from the outside by having pieces of metal broken and floating in space, and having a red tractor beam instead of a blue one. Inside, it is devoid of any life except it has purple goo with small purple tumors similar to what is found inside and around Abandoned Buildings, although there are no Whispering Eggs in abandoned stations.

In contrast to a normal space station with its open marketplace architecture, abandoned station features the architecture and the layout of space station prior to the NEXT update, i.e. two ramps leading to one room with an attached room each. The attached room requires an AtlasPass v3 key and seems to be without damage or goo.

There are no NPCs aboard this space station, and no Appearance Modifier or Starship Outfitting Terminal, however the following amenities are still available:

Left-hand side:
- Station Terminus Teleporter (looks and works like a Base Teleport Module)
Right-hand side:
- Galactic Trade Terminal

Outlaw Station[ | ]

Outlaw stations can be found in any system previously inhabited by any of the races. Like an abandoned station, this station can be identified from the outside by having pieces of metal broken and floating in space, and having a red tractor beam instead of a blue one. Inside, a number of NPCs and vendors occupy the landing area.

Like abandoned stations, outlaw stations feature the architecture and the layout of space stations prior to the NEXT update. Like the former architectural layout of the space station, outlaw stations feature two ramps on either side of the core; however, unlike normal space stations prior to the update, these ramps only lead to blocked-off doors and don't lead into any actual rooms (though you can still see Cargo Drops behind the inaccessible doors with the Analysis Visor).

Like a normal space station, this station will have an Appearance Modifier, Multi-Tool and Exosuit upgrade cabinets, Starship Outfitting Terminal, and a Scrap Dealer booth. In addition, the following amenities are available:

Left-hand side:
- Station Terminus Teleporter (looks and works like a Base Teleport Module). Cannot transport the player to "normal" space stations.
Right-hand side:
- Contraband Agent dealing mostly in prohibited and suspicious goods.
- Salvage Dealer trading suspicious upgrade modules.
- Bounty Master offering pirate missions in exchange for , prohibited goods and upgrades, Forged Passports, and regular rewards.

Buying / Trading / Conversation[ | ]

See: NPC conversation

One of the many things you can do in space stations is trade with the NPC pilots that land their ships on the station's landing pads. You can trade items for units or buy items, ships, etc. from them. Space stations with smaller runways will have more traders than ones with longer runways.

Words can be learned via encounters with alien lifeforms. Making friendly requests while in a space station may result in learning new words permanently.

Attacking[ | ]

Unique SS 4-star Wanted Level — Shooting the Space Station entrance for too long will trigger an endless wave of Sentinel Interceptors.

While you can attack a station, it cannot actually be destroyed. Attacking will initially trigger a 1-star Wanted Level. If attacked long enough, a 4-star wanted level is triggered followed by an endless wave of Sentinel Interceptors. There will be 3 initial waves, each consisting of 3 Interceptors. Every Interceptor destroyed will be replaced ad infinitum. This applies to normal and abandoned stations, but not to Outlaw Stations.

As an integral part of the game, it will always remain in orbit around its host star system.

Attacking is disabled while inside the space station.

Name generation[ | ]

The name of space station is procedurally generated by combining the name of the star system (∗ marks its location) in which the space station is located, and one of the following suffixes.

∗ Station
∗ Orbital
∗ Station
∗ Station Alpha
∗ Station Beta
∗ Station Omega
∗ Cycler
∗ Rendezvous
∗ Hub
∗ Terminus
∗ Station Sigma
∗ Junction
∗ Station Tau
∗ Exchange
∗ Prime
∗ Station Minor
∗ Station Major
∗ Platform
∗ Sphere
∗ Stellar Observer

Additional information[ | ]

The name generation and the sequence are extracted from the 1.77 version of NMS_UPDATE3_ENGLISH.MBIN game file.
Pre-release information indicated that there would be five classes of space stations in No Man's Sky; the actual number is unknown. Each space station is marked with a set of symbols somewhere on the outside walls.

While inside a Space Station:

You do not suffer fall damage
You cannot draw your Multi-Tool (you can on the PS4 VR, but cannot fire any weapon or beam), but you can switch tools.
You can use passive secondary multi-tool modes like the Cloaking Device or the Combat Scope.
There is no drain on your Life Support.
Upon entering, your Sentinel wanted level is reset to zero.
Entering will stop any pirates from pursuing you. (Note: Pirate dreadnought attacks against freighters continue while you're inside a space station.)
Player jetpack recharges at a much faster rate.

Atlantideum can be used at Korvax Space Station Cores to get an 8-bit binary code that can be translated. More information and some Examples are under Atlantideum: Station Cores.