Revision 12

Exploration is one of the core pillars of SpaceCraft. The universe is immense, with thousands of solar systems and planets to discover, and you are free to explore it.

Real-Time Flight

You pilot your spaceship and maneuver through space in real time, seamlessly transitioning from the depths of space to the surface of planets. There are no hard breaks between flying in space and approaching a world, so travel and exploration feel continuous.

The Scale of the Galaxy

The universe is described as a shared, persistent galaxy that, at the Early Access launch, spans 20 sectors, hundreds of star systems, and thousands of planets to discover. That scale is what makes exploration open-ended: there is always another system to chart and another world to scan. As an evolving Early Access game, the exact extent of the galaxy can grow over time as new sectors and planets are added.

What You Will Find

Systems are brimming with points of interest to investigate:

• Planets with natural resources ready to be scanned and exploited.

• Asteroid fields rich in raw materials.

• Abandoned space stations to investigate.

• Derelict ships drifting between the stars.

Faster-Than-Light Travel

To cross the vast distances between systems, SpaceCraft uses Faster-Than-Light technology. FTL lets you cover great distances in an instant, jumping between distant systems with ease. This is how you move from one explored system to the next as you push outward into the galaxy.

Scanning

Exploration and resource gathering go hand in hand. As you explore and scan new systems, you reveal valuable resources to extract. Scanning your environment is the first step before you mine, so you know where to point your tools. See Mining and Resources for how extraction works.

Why Explore

Exploration feeds every other system. New systems mean new resources to mine and craft, new markets to trade in, and new sites for Corporations to expand their logistics. A better ship lets you explore farther, which in turn fuels a larger operation.

Seamless Atmospheric Entry

Movement between space and planets is continuous. In open space the game uses a universal up and down to keep navigation clear, but on entering a planet’s atmosphere the ship’s orientation has to match that planet’s gravity. A buffer zone gradually shifts the up direction during descent so the transition stays smooth, and leaving a planet is even more seamless since the ship is already facing the sky. You view flight in third person, switching to first person once you are on foot or inside buildings.

Planets and Landmarks

Each planet has its own character: a planet has a single biome with different landmarks, and those landmarks can hold rarer, more concentrated resources. Because each world has its own resource set, exploration is partly about choosing which planets to visit for the materials you need. See Mining and Resources.

Instances and Shipwrecks

Some locations are instanced spaces rather than part of the open world, including the Restricted Areas, and shipwrecks can be looted for their containers. Community Update #1 on September 16, 2026 updated the level design and art of every existing instance and added a take-all key for their containers, and a September 18 patch fixed players being unable to fully explore a planet after looting a shipwreck. The September 16 post also announced new Instances set in abandoned stations for the next update, where you would search for specific items and earn rewards. What shipped on October 8, 2026, in Major Update #1, was an overhaul of every existing Restricted Area plus 11 new ones, including two new types, Abandoned Ships and Processing Plant; the patch note does not say whether either is the announced abandoned-station Instance. See Updates and Patch Notes.

Fueling FTL Jumps

Faster-Than-Light jumps draw on a dedicated Mag-Plasma (Magnetic-Plasma) reserve on your ship, separate from the battery that powers other modules and recharges in sunlight. Managing that reserve is part of planning long-distance travel. See Ship Building.

Exploration Changes in Major Update #1