No Man's Sky Cosmos Guide: Claim Your Station, Head Into Deep Space

What is Cosmos?

Cosmos is No Man's Sky version 7.0, released on 9 September 2026 as the game's tenth anniversary update. It is free on every platform. Patches 7.01, 7.02, 7.03 and 7.03.1 have followed since launch.

The update has two axes. The first is ownership: you can now become the director of a space station, redesign it inside and out, and found your own galactic alliance. The second is deep space: the gap between planets is no longer something you fly through, but a destination holding asteroid belts, outposts and derelict hulks to strip.

The checklist below gives you the order to work through when you first log into the update. Items you tick are stored in your browser; nothing is sent to a server and nothing carries across to another device.

Space Station Directorship

This is the headline feature. Once the local authorities approve you, you become the director of a space station. Directorship opens three separate build layers: colossal decoration modules placed around the outside of the station, a central lobby you can rebuild with normal base parts, and extra rooms added onto the main hangar.

Directorship also grants the right to found a galactic alliance — only station directors can do this.

The reported requirements, all to be met in the same system:

Once the requirements are met, the steps are:

1. Find an unclaimed stationStations that already have a director cannot be claimed. Fly to a normal inhabited system and land at its station.
2. Go to the Station CoreSources disagree on where it is: one description points upstairs toward the back of the station, another to the main hangar area. Check both at your station.
3. Interact with the CoreYour requirements and progress bars are listed here. This screen is the only reliable source for which figures apply to your station.
4. Claim it once every bar is fullThe claim option only appears then. The exterior, interior lobby and hangar rooms open up for building afterwards.

Star System Map

This is the Cosmos tool you will use most. It opens from the Quick Menu and maps the system you are in: planets, the space station and every deep-space point of interest. Mark a planet or a point and your starship navigation assist takes over.

Deep-Space Points of Interest

Hello Games' official page lists six kinds of point of interest. Each has a different purpose, a different equipment requirement and a different risk profile. Pick a type in the explorer below to see the details.

Stripping Derelict Hulks

The huge ship hulks drifting through deep space are the tensest loop in Cosmos. They are procedurally generated and their interiors are made of narrow passages — you cannot fly in, you have to enter on a spacewalk.

By the official description these structures are prone to exploding when their structural integrity is disrupted. Stripping one is therefore a risk-management job rather than a resource-gathering one: the more you take the more you earn, but past a certain point you lose everything still aboard.

The strip order that emerges from reported experience is below. The simulator lets you try that order and see why the wrong moves are wrong:

1. Scan firstThe Analysis Visor colour-codes items by value. Work out what matters before you go inside.
2. Start with the valuable partsProximity and ease of removal are poor criteria; the run can be cut short at any moment.
3. Secure what you are holding immediatelyThrow each detached part to your Corvette's Tractor Beam; salvage in the hold is no longer at risk.
4. Leave when the timer startsOnce the meltdown timer begins, chasing what is left means losing what you already have.

Salvage Contracts

According to the official page, deep-space outposts offer salvage and material recovery contracts that pay out in rewards and standing. These contracts are also one of the prerequisites for station directorship.

1. Find a Deep-Space OutpostOpen the Star System Map from the Quick Menu and head for the outpost marker.
2. Talk to the Quartermaster firstSkip the Quartermaster in the yellow-framed building and the terminal will refuse you. This is the most commonly reported sticking point.
3. Take contracts at the yellow terminalStack contracts asking for the same material — one salvage run can then close several at once.
4. Fly to the mission markerYour target will be a derelict hulk or an asteroid field.
5. Spacewalk out and stripExtract components with the Gravitino Coil. The Analysis Visor shows which parts are worth taking.
6. Throw the salvage to your CorvetteToss the pieces toward the Tractor Beam; the beam pulls them in and stows them in the attached habitation modules.
7. Return to the outpostSalvage is a physical object, so it sits inside your ship rather than in your inventory.
8. Put the items in the compactorPhysically remove them from the ship and place them in the compactor machine. Skip this and the contract does not count as complete.
9. Close it out at the terminalThis is the only place you collect the reward and the contract credit.

Corvette Changes

The Corvette-class ships introduced in Voyagers have become the workhorse of the deep-space economy in Cosmos. The official page lists three additions:

This section covers what the Corvette does. Farming Corvette parts for profit is a separate topic — see the Currency Farming Guide for that.

Galactic Alliances

Once you are the director of a station you can found your own galactic alliance, designing a custom name and a banner that propagates across the universe. You do not have to be a director to join one — you simply visit a station that alliance owns.

You can belong to at most three alliances at a time. The largest and most active ones are ranked on a leaderboard reached from the station core, ordered by member activity.

Deep-Space Outposts and Orbital Bases

Deep-Space Outposts are trading posts run by alien quartermasters. You can process rare minerals, buy and sell materials, and sign up for salvage contracts. The infested variants hold biological hazards, and extracting material there needs a Gravitino Coil.

Orbital construction is the most open-ended system in Cosmos: you can now build a base anywhere in space. There are two starting points — use a natural asteroid platform as a foundation, or claim an empty volume of space outright. New corridor and station-style parts work alongside the standard base parts.

1. Pick a spotOpen the Star System Map and find a suitable asteroid or empty volume.
2. Spacewalk downBring your ship close, exit from the Quick Menu and land on the asteroid.
3. Place the base computerThe moment you set down the Deep-Space Base Computer, the area is yours.
4. BuildAnything from a small observation platform to a deep-space headquarters far from any planet.

Spacewalking

Spacewalking is no longer Corvette-only: you can now step outside from any ship, anywhere in space, using the Quick Menu. Movement offers what the official text calls “true six degrees of freedom, including roll” — so not just forward and up, but rotation around your own axis too.

Two practical details: your cold protection technologies keep draining during a spacewalk unless there is a hazard source nearby. And explosions knock you backwards — which, when stripping a hulk, is both a danger and an escape route.

Cosmos and Making Units

Cosmos did not change the game's existing farming meta — the Chlorine loop, Cobalt trading and Stasis Device production all still work the same way. What the update did add is four new income channels:

• Salvage contracts. Taken at deep-space outposts, paying out in rewards and standing. You need five of them for directorship anyway, so the standing and the Units come from the same work.
• Hulk components. Parts stripped from derelict hulks can be sold at stations and outposts — or kept to decorate the exterior of your own station, so selling is not the only option.
• Deep-space mineral trading. Minerals and strange crystals pulled from asteroid belts can be processed and sold at outposts.
• Station directorship. With its one billion Units requirement this is a spending target rather than an income source, but it does let you design the trading hub you will keep coming back to.

Expedition 23: Our Journey Continues

The tenth-anniversary expedition launched alongside Cosmos. It opened on 16 September 2026 and, per the official announcement, runs for approximately six weeks. The expedition is a journey through the game's own history, with developer commentary from Sean Murray at each milestone — commentary that is stored permanently in the Catalogue's Collected Knowledge section.

The official reward list:

• A set of framed artworks — nine pieces based on update cover art.
• A bobblehead companion for your starship cockpit.
• The Starbound v0.27 Multi-Tool.
• A golden edition Rasamama S36.
• The Vintage Sentinel Interceptor ship.
• A Diplodocus companion.

Signals, Twitch Drops and Performance

Signals is the light tutorial mission in Cosmos. It introduces the Star System Map and deep-space navigation, teaching you how to find points of interest. The official material does not state exactly what triggers it — if you cannot see anything on the map, visit the Space Anomaly first.

The Twitch Drops programme started shortly after launch. Connect your platform accounts on the Twitch Drops page and watch participating streamers to earn exotic base parts, high-tech starships, fireworks and appearance modifications. Rewards accumulate even if you do not own the game yet.

Technically Cosmos is a substantial maintenance pass: block compression for textures was rewritten, terrain tessellation improved, and the clouds seen from space and the volumetric fog around hulks were reworked. Upscaling gained Intel XeSS 3 and NVIDIA DLSS 4.5 support including Frame Generation, and PCVR gained eye-tracked foveated rendering. Console load times dropped through file-handling optimisation, and bindless texture support on Xbox reduced CPU load.

Glossary

No Man's Sky has no official Turkish localisation. This guide follows the same pattern as the site's other No Man's Sky content: the original English term is kept with an explanation beside it, so the text you see in game matches the term in the guide. Use the box to search.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the Cosmos update paid?

No. Cosmos (7.0) is free on every platform for anyone who owns the game. It was released on 9 September 2026.

What do I need to own a space station?

Hello Games has not published the requirements. Player reports describe 30 standing with the local race, 15 with the guild, five completed salvage contracts and one billion Units, all in the same system — but the sources do not fully agree on those figures. Check the values at the Station Core.

Why can't I see deep-space points of interest on my map?

Points of interest only appear once you have reached the Space Anomaly at least once. If you have, try leaving the system and returning.

Do I need a Corvette for salvage?

In practice yes, because salvage is a physical object and the Tractor Beam is a Corvette part. Without it you cannot collect and carry the pieces.

How many alliances can I join at once?

Three at most. To join one you have to visit a space station that alliance owns.

When does Expedition 23 end?

It started on 16 September 2026 and, per the official announcement, runs for approximately six weeks. No exact end date was announced; check the in-game expedition timer for the time remaining.