Station Observatory
Research projects — codex data and samples become ship modules and the core of the Ring.
The observatory is a module of your own station (
Module Kit: Observatory). Press its console: the telescope
under the dome surveys the sky (new anomalies go to the codex), and a window shows the research projects — what can be
built from the data and samples you have gathered.
How a project runs
| What it needs | How it works |
|---|---|
| Data | knowledge in your codex: anomaly data units (telescope plates, radio logs, seam casts, seismograms, scanner records) or “been there” marks. Not spent |
| Substances | items from your inventory and the station storage hold; taken when the project is queued, returned if you cancel |
| Time | real minutes: the project runs while you fly far away or are logged out — the station catches up when you return |
A finished project unlocks a recipe: without it the crafting table will not make the item. The queue belongs to the station: an outpost holds two projects, a station three, a citadel four, a ring five; the next one starts by itself when the previous ends. Only the station’s owner queues and cancels projects; a guest sees the window with their own codex. Whatever is missing, the window names it with a hint where to get it.
At the console the tooltip mod (Jade) shows the running project and the time left; recipe viewers (JEI, REI) have an “Observatory projects” page with data, substances and time.
Solar System projects
| Project | Data and substances | What it gives |
|---|---|---|
 Direction Finder | “Wow!” radio log, 4 tetrataenite ingots; 10 min | bearing lines in the sky to the system’s sources: a passing Visitor, an open wormhole, a supernova remnant, the “Wow!” relay — direction without distance; records the Visitor and the wormhole in the codex |
 Gravity Anchor | Planet Nine plates and scans, 8 Hawking sparks; 20 min | the pull of the black hole and the dark matter cloud is four times weaker, tides on the hull ×0.3 |
 Radiation Screen | gamma-ray burst plates, uraninite and lead; 15 min | radiation on the hull ×0.3: gamma-ray bursts, solar storm fronts, pulsar beams, the wind of hot stars |
 Coronagraph | Wanderer plates, a dark grain; 15 min | unlocks the coronagraph recipe: without it the graviscope cannot show the dips of Tabby’s Star |
 Solar Sail | Visitor record, relict ice, pallasite olivine; 30 min | boost near a star without fuel; storm fronts and pulsar beams do not hit but throw the ship forward |
 Cloak | dark cloud records, 8 dark grains; 30 min | raiders and space shoals do not notice the ship beyond 24 blocks unless already angry with it |
 Throat Stabilizer | wormhole records, 4 exotic matter; 30 min | a wormhole near the ship stays open twice as long for everyone; the second exit needs no exotic matter |
 Wave Rider | the black hole merger chirp recorded, a chirp record, tetrataenite; 20 min | jump range +25% |
Interrift and Depths projects
| Project | Data and substances | What it gives |
|---|---|---|
 Nacre Navigator | seam casts, 8 messenger nacre; 30 min | in the Interrift, boost and jumps cost half the fuel |
 Deep Sounder | Depths anomaly data, 3 seismograms, 8 fire roses; 30 min | the scanner in the Depths sees geodes and a running Surfacing three times farther, even ones the magmascope has not heard |
Between the Stars projects
Pocket
Light-Catcher
Magnetic
MagnetarModules at work
A module goes into a ship slot like any other. Where its effect can be seen, it is: a golden sail film unfolds above the stern, a cloaked ship is wrapped in a violet shell with a running ring, the anchor braces against a black hole with rings of light, the screen flashes a green hexagonal shell when it takes a hit, and the direction finder draws a dashed radio beam from the nose to the source.
What next
- The data for projects comes from the instruments: “Radio telescope”, “The telescope and the sky”.
- The other station module — “Zero-G Forge and star gear”.
- Where the interstellar modules take you — “Interstellar space” (behind a spoiler).