No Man’s Sky Polestar Expedition – A Complete Breakdown

Hot on the heels of No Man’s Sky‘s Endurance update comes the Polestar Expedition, a brand new adventure that flings players across the stars once again. This Expedition launched on July 27, 2022, and it’s set to run for about two months (though an exact end date wasn’t specified).

Now, every Expedition is a little bit different, and this one has its own quirk: This time, you start out on a freighter instead of on a planet.

This one is also way, way easier than the previous expedition. Remember Leviathan? That one had permadeath. Compared to that, Polestar is actually super easy. In fact, this might be the easiest Expedition yet.

Still, I always do a complete breakdown of every Expedition, and I’m doing this one too. If you need any help at all, I hope the information here gets you where you’re going. If not, feel free to ask questions in the comments section.

Alright, folks, let’s blast off!

Phase 1

Completion reward:

• Pilgrim Poster plans
• Polestar Poster plans
• Heavy Shipping Poster plans

Log 1: Emergency

Objective: Read the first entry in the ship log.

For this milestone, you simply need to talk to the captain of the freighter, who is super close to where you spawn in. For the record, it’s the lifeform that’s up in the control booth, not the one down by the console where you’d manage your fleet, if that makes sense.

If not, here’s an image that should clarify it:

Note that your captain might not be Gek, depending on your starting location.

When you talk to the captain, you’ll see the option “Access ship’s log.” That’s the one you want. Once you read it, the milestone will pop up, showing you that you’ve completed the objective.

Reward:

• Starship Inventory Slot x2
• Salvaged Frigate Module
• Wiring Loom x2
• Cargo Bulkhead
• Purple paint freighter customisation

All Hands on Deck

Objective: Repair vital freighter systems.

Open up your freighter menu (simply press the touchpad if you’re playing on PS4/PS5) and you’ll see that three of your freighter components are damaged. You’ll need to fix these.

The Atmospheric Control Unit requires:

• Chromatic Metal x60
• Gold x30
• Wiring Loom

The Freighter Hyperdrive requires:

• Chromatic Metal x250
• Antimatter x2
• Antimatter Housing x2

The Matter Beam requires:

• Antimatter x3
• Magnetic Resonator x2
• Wiring Loom x5

There’s some good news: You only need to repair the Atmospheric Control Unit to complete this milestone, and you should have all the components on you already. Once you turn in the milestone, you should also have enough materials to repair the Freighter Hyperdrive, with the exception of the Antimatter Housing. We’ll make that in a later step in this guide, so don’t worry about it right now.

Reward:

• Antimatter x2
• Starship Launch Fuel x3
• Repair Kit x2

Planetside

Objective: Set foot on land.

For this one, you want to simply go to the freighter’s hanger, then get in your ship. Note that your ship might be on fire, but you can ignore that… it’s totally fine…

Anyway, just get in your ship, then land on the closest planet. Once you get out of your ship, the milestone should be complete.

While you’re on the surface of the planet, you’re going to want to mine at least 100 ferrite dust, which you’ll need to repair your hyperdrive, and at least 80 di-hydrogen, which you’ll need to build your Refiner Room. You’ll also want at least 20 sodium, which is for your Storage Room.

Reward:

• Refiner Room plans
• Oxygen x210
• Banned Hazard Protection Upgrade
• Powerful Mining Beam Upgrade

A Well-Oiled Machine

Objective: Construct a Refiner Room on your freighter.

Return to space. Note that there might be several freighters out in space, so you’ll want to make sure you land on your own. The easiest way to do this is to summon your freighter (on PS4/PS5, you can press down on the D-pad while in space, then navigate to the “Summon Freighter and Squadron” option).

Once you’re on your freighter (AKA your capital ship), navigate to the buildable area and construct a Refiner Room. You’ll need:

• Silver x60
• Di-hydrogen Jelly x2
• Gold x45

If you followed my instructions in the previous milestone and mined at least 80 di-hydrogen while on the planet, you’ll be able to make the Di-Hydrogen Jelly. The silver and gold should already be in your freighter’s inventory.

Build a Refiner Room to complete this milestone.

Reward:

• Warp Hypercore
• Storage Room plans

Engage Engines

Objective: Warp with your capital ship.

As long as you mined some ferrite dust while you were on the planetary surface, you should be able to make two Antimatter Housing so you can patch up your freighter’s hyperdrive. You should also have some hyperdrive fuel from completing the previous milestone. Fuel up your freighter, then warp to the nearest star system.

Reward:

• Warp Hypercore plans
• Salvaged Hyperdrive Upgrade
• Amplified Warp Shielding plans

Supercargo

Objective: Construct a Storage Room on your freighter.

You should have the blueprints for the Storage Room from completing the milestone A Well-Oiled Machine. To build it, you’ll need:

• Silver x50
• Sodium x20

You should have the silver in your inventory already, and if you listened to my advice earlier and farmed some sodium while you were on-planet, you should have that as well. You can construct the Storage Room in your freighter’s buildable area.

Reward:

• Interstellar Scanner plans
• Salvaged Frigate Module x2

Galactic Catalogue

Objective: Install an Interstellar Scanner.

This one is a little weird, because you’d think it would just be in your construction menu (where you were building the previous freigher rooms). Instead, you’ll have to go to your freighter’s inventory, then go to the Technology tab (you don’t necessarily need to do this step, but I recommend it), then press the square button (on PS4/PS5) to bring up your technology menu. The Interstellar Scanner costs:

• Chromatic Metal x160
• Magnetized Ferrite x70
• Wiring Loom x2

Now that you have a refiner, you can make Chromatic Metal by refining Copper, and Magnetized Ferrite by refining Ferrite Dust into Pure Ferrite, and then into Magnetized Ferrite. If you’re out of Wiring Looms, you can always buy them at space stations.

Reward:

• 2,048 Nanites
• Powerful Movement System Upgrade
• Powerful Pulse Engine Upgrade

Rendezvous 1

Objective: Reach the first rendezvous point.

If you’ve done any of No Man’s Sky’s previous expeditions, you probably know the drill. If not, set the Rendezvous 1 to your active milestone, then open up your Galactic Map and there will be a line drawn straight to the correct system. Once you get to the system, there will be a very obvious marker letting you know where to go.

Once you land in the correct location, you’ll still have to locate the rendezvous point. You’ll want to bring up your scanner, and then toggle it to Target Sweep Mode (it will probably do this automatically). Then follow the signal to the location, which in this instance is a crashed freighter.

The planet is called Waffha, and it’s in the Higare-Rigy system.

Reward:

• Magnetic Resonator plans
• 3,333 Nanites
• Salvaged Frigate Module
• Inventory Slot x2

Phase 2

Completion reward:

• High-Gravity Freighter Trail customisation

Log 2: Into the Black

Objective: Read the second entry in the ship’s log.

For this one, you have to warp your freighter into the correct star system, then you can talk to the captain and recover the log. The system is called Nawaguch, and it’s the same system in which you’ll find the second rendezvous point.

Once you’re there, simply talk to the commander, and select the “Access ship’s log” option. Once you read through it, you’ll pop the milestone.

Reward:

• Orbital Exocraft Materializer plans
• Wiring Loom x3
• Yellow paint freighter customisation

Rendezvous 2

Objective: Reach the second rendezvous point.

This is the same process as the first rendezvous, only this time it’s in the Nawaguch system (which you should be in already if you just finished the previous milestone). The planet is called Mobinusc Sigma.

Reward:

• Teleport Chamber plans
• 3,333 Nanites
• Salvaged Frigate Module
• Inventory Slot x2

Drop Protocol

Objective: Construct an Orbital Exocraft Materializer.

Just like the previous freighter build milestones, this one simply has you construct an Orbital Exocraft Materializer in the buildable area of your freighter. You should have the blueprints as long as you’ve completed the “Log 2: Into the Black” milestone. However, you might need to farm some materials to make this. It requires:

• Gold x60
• Ionized Cobalt x50
• Warp Cell x3

You might be running out of gold at this point, so if you are, you can farm it by shooting asteroids in your starship (you can work on the “Stardust” milestone while you’re at it). Ionized cobalt can be refined from regular cobalt, which is found exclusively inside caves (well, you can also buy it at space stations). If you have oxygen, you can actually dupe ionized cobalt like crazy in your refiner (and this isn’t a bad way to earn Units).

Once you construct the room, you will complete the milestone. Also, this allows you to summon any Exocraft that you’ve summoned previously, so long as you’re on a planet surface and your freighter is in the same system as you. It’s awesome.

Reward:

• Nautilon Chamber plans
• Roamer Geobay plans
• Exocraft Specialist’s Room plans

Freedom of the Seas

Objective: Deploy a Submarine.

Once you’ve built an Orbital Exocraft Materializer (see the previous milestone), all you have to do now is build one Nautilon Chamber anywhere in the universe. Once that’s built, you can deploy a Nautilon submarine anywhere (so long as your freighter is in the same system as you).

You should have the blueprints from the Drop Protocol milestone, and you’ll need these materials to construct one:

• Metal Plating x5
• Crystal Sulfide x4
• Salt x100

The Metal Plating is easy; you can make that from ferrite dust. The crystal sulfide is a bit trickier to come by. Basically, you need to find these specific structures:

These can usually be found on any planet with oceans, because they exist underwater. You’ll have to get in really close and manually grab the crystals off of these. But be careful, because they tend to spout boiling hot water, which will damage your character.

Finally, you need salt, which can be harvested from aquatic plant life. Scan underwater plants to see which ones contain salt, and then harvest the salt. Or, you can sometimes get really lucky and find a salt deposit in the wild.

When you have all the materials, you can build a Nautilon Chamber. Once that’s built, you can summon the Nautilon anywhere so long as there’s water. Summon it, then get in to complete the milestone.

Reward:

• Supreme Submarine Drive Upgrade x2
• Significant Nautilon Cannon Upgrade
• Aquatic Treasure
• Osmotic Generator plans

Across Infinity

Objective: Construct a Teleport Chamber.

The Teleport Chamber requires:

• Silver x60
• Antimatter x3
• Amino Chamber

If you made it this far, the silver and antimatter should be no problem. But that Amino Chamber… What’s an interloper to do about that?

Well, there are two main options here. First, you could go to a space station and see if you can buy one. If you’re not getting lucky with your space station inventory, you can go to the Nexus and buy the blueprint for the Amino Chamber there (it’s at the Synthesis Laboratory). Once you have the blueprint, you’ll need:

• Metal Plating
• Chlorine x20
• Condensed Carbon x25

Once you have all of the components, you can build the Teleport Chamber in your freighter and complete the milestone.

Reward:

• Technology Room (Expansion) plans
• Construction Specialist’s Room plans
• Advanced Mining Laser plans

The Engine of Life

Objective: Discover 20 plants.

This is super easy. Just scan 20 plants. You’ll almost certainly have this one done without even thinking about it at all.

Reward:

• Double Cultivation Chamber plans
• Supreme Scanning System Upgrade
• Powerful Mining Beam Upgrade x2

The Air We Breathe

Objective: Construct a Double Cultivation Chamber.

You’ll get the blueprints for the Double Cultivation Chamber from the previous milestone. It requires:

• Silver x60
• Oxygen x35
• Faecium x25

This stuff is all easy enough to get. If you’re struggling with the Faecium, just feed some animals and collect their poo.

Reward:

• Biological Room (Expansion) plans
• Nutrition Room plans
• Collection of plantable seeds

Optional Milestone: Hospitality

Objective: Visit someone else’s freighter base.

You can simply call up a friend and see if they’ll let you visit their freighter. You might even have someone reach out to you in-game to exchange freighter time. You really just need to get onto another player’s freighter.

This milestone is optional, but these rewards are pretty hard to pass up if you plan on keeping this character rather than deleting it after completing the Expedition.

Reward:

• Atlas Pass set
• 5,000,000 Units
• Portal glyph set

Phase 3

Completion reward:

• Navigation Archive plans
• Flaming Barrel plans
• Data Display Unit plans

Log 3: Homesick

Objective: Read the third entry in the ship’s log.

For this one, you want to travel to the system where the third rendezvous point is located. Once you’re in the system, talk to the captain again, then choose “Access ship’s log.” Boom. Milestone complete.

Reward:

• Decorative Base Parts Set
• Turquoise paint freighter customisation

Rendezvous 3

Objective: Reach the third rendezvous point.

This is basically the same as the previous two rendezvous points, only the location you’re looking for is underwater. Use the Nautilon, because it makes this super easy.

And I apologize, because I forgot to write down the name of the system and the planet on this one. Sorry, folks…

Reward:

• Stellar Extractor Room plans
• 3,333 Nanites
• Salvaged Frigate Module
• Inventory Slot x2

Power and Industry

Objective: Construct a Stellar Extractor Room.

This is simple enough. You should have the blueprint from the previous milestone, and you’ll just need these resources:

• Silver x60
• Gold x45
• Magnetized Ferrite x40

Build this room on your freighter and you’ll pop the milestone.

Reward:

• Scanner Room plans
• Industrial Room (Expansion) plans
• Appearance Modifier Room plans

Wing Commander

Objective: Recruit 3 pilots to your squadron.

Before you can do this milestone, you need to expand your potential squadron. You’ll do this on your freighter, in the same location where you mange your fleet, or where you go to warp your freighter across the galaxy. Right here:

Once you open this menu, you can either manage your fleet or your squadron. Choose “Manage Squadron,” and you’ll see four locked boxes. You need to unlock at least three of them. It’s going to cost you a ton of Nanites, but if you’ve made it this far in the Expedition, you should probably have enough already. If not, you can sell Cronus some food.

Once you have your slots unlocked, visit a space station and wait for ships to arrive. Whenever there’s a ship in the hanger, there should be an alien standing outside of it. You’ll have the option to make an offer on their starship or trade with them, but you can also recruit them to be part of your squadron. Thankfully, this part of the process won’t cost you anything.

Once you’ve recruited three pilots, this milestone should pop.

Reward:

• Supreme Pulse Engine Upgrade
• Supreme Launch Thruster Upgrade
• Supreme Starship Shield Upgrade

Galactic Defender

Objective: Shoot down 16 pirates.

During this Expedition, you’re going to get attacked by pirates. A lot. So killing 16 pirates is probably just going to happen automatically.

Reward:

• Starship Weaponry Blueprints
• Salvaged Fleet Beacon x3

Called by the Stars

Objective: Complete 8 fleet expeditions.

This one is going to take some time. First up, you need to construct at least one Fleet Command Room on your freighter (the blueprint should be unlocked by default). Then, you’ll talk to the Navigator on your freighter. Remember this image?

This time, the creature that’s crossed out is the one you want to talk to. They’ll have options for you to choose from for various missions, and those will generally take between one and four hours (though some can take more than 24 hours). You can speed up the process by installing Fleet Communicators on your freighter, or by building more Fleet Command Rooms and recruiting more frigates. The number of Fleet Command Rooms you have is the number of missions you can tackle at once. If you have three Fleet Command Rooms, you will be able to have three missions running simultaneously. Of course, you’ll need frigates in order to accept those missions.

To learn more about recruiting more frigates, jump down to the “Mission Control” milestone in Phase 5.

Once your frigates have completed eight missions, you’ll pop the milestone.

Reward:

• Frigate Fuel (200 Tonnes) x3
• Mineral Compressor
• Explosive Drones
• Holographic Analyzer

Farseer

Objective: Construct a Scanner Room.

You acquire the blueprints for the Scanner Room by completing the “Power and Industry” milestone. For this, you need:

• Silver x60
• Gold x30
• Ion Battery

You can make an Ion Battery from:

• Cobalt x10
• Ferrite Dust x5

Once you make the Scanner Room, you should pop the Milestone.

Reward:

• Galactic Trade Room plans
• Freighter Glass Corridor plans
• Reinforced Window plans

Home Comforts

Objective: Construct a Galactic Trade Room.

You’ll get the blueprints from the previous milestone, and you’ll need these materials:

• Silver x60
• Chromatic Metal x35
• Microprocessor x2

You can make the Microprocessors from:

• Chromatic Metal x40
• Carbon Nanotubes

Once you build the room, you’ll pop the milestone.

Reward:

• Bulkhead Door plans
• Exterior Platform plans
• Exterior Catwalk plans
• Glass x16

Phase 4

Completion reward:

• Fleet Commander’s Cape customisation

Log 4: No Going Back

Objective: Read the fourth entry in the ship’s log.

You know the drill by now. Follow the line to the rendezvous point, then when you get to the right system, talk to the captain again.

Reward:

• Powerful Underwater Oxygen Upgrade x2
• Life Support Gel x10
• Green paint freighter customisation

Rendezvous 4

Objective: Reach the fourth rendezvous point.

I didn’t forget to write this one down. The system is called Ojiyod II, and the planet is called Atrin Beta.

Reward:

• 3,333 Nanites
• Salvaged Frigate Module
• Inventroy Slot x2
• Multi-Tool Expansion Slot
• Cargo Bulkhead

Stardust

Objective: Destroy 50 asteroids.

This is super easy, especially with the game’s denser asteroid fields. Just fly into space, find an asteroid field (they’re pretty much everywhere), then blast some asteroids. You’ll probably be surprised just how fast this is to earn.

Reward:

• Liquid Sun x400
• Oxygen x1,234
• Starship Storage Augmentation x5

Reclamation

Objective: Find and restore a crashed starship.

You might encounter a crashed ship just by randomly coming across one. I generally find at least one on my own by the time I’ve completed an Expedition. However, if you want to locate one manually, here’s a guide to finding crashed ships in No Man’s Sky.

So how did I do it? Well, I just went to a space station, then visited the Cartographer. I used the “Exchange specific charts” option, and bought the “Emergency Cartographic Data” option. I then used the map and followed the signal to its location. This took a couple tries, but I did eventually find a ship using this method.

One other thing I should point out is that when you find a damaged ship, you don’t actually need to repair every single broken component. Just repair the Launch Thruster, the Pulse Engine, and the Deflector Shield, then fly the ship away. This should be enough to earn you the milestone.

Reward:

• Aeration Membrane plans
• Efficient Water Jets plans
• Supreme Life Support upgrade

Recycling

Objective: Repurpose a starship for scrap.

Find a ship you don’t want (perhaps via the method explained in the previous milestone), then bring it to a space station. There’s a station where you can upgrade your ship, but you can also scrap your ship for parts. Scrap the ship to complete this milestone.

Reward:

• Supreme Movement System Upgrade
• Lost Artifact
• Supreme Launch Thrusters Upgrade
• Repair Kit x5

Prospector

Objective: Discover 15 minerals.

This is super easy, and you can do this as soon as you leave your freighter for the first time. Just go to a planet and scan as many rocks as you can, then go to another planet and repeat. If you just casually scan rocks whenever you’re on a planet, you’ll end up passively earning this one long before you complete the Expedition.

Reward:

• Salvaged Frigate Module x3
• Supreme Scanning System Upgrade
• Salvaged Data x25

Gold Like Sand

Objective: Earn 9,000,000 Units.

You can make money a million different ways in No Man’s Sky, and by the time you get this far into the Expedition, you’re probably pretty close to earning this anyway. For me, I duped Ionized Cobalt with the refiner and oxygen (I explain the process in my massive guide on oxygen, if you want to know more about it).

Reward:

• 600 Quicksilver
• Inventory Slot x3
• Terrifying Sample

Phase 5

Completion Reward:

• Title: “The Seeker”
• Polestar Expedition Decal plans
• Polestar Expedition Banner customisation

Log 5: Horizons

Objective: Read the final entry in the ship’s log.

You know the drill…

Reward:

• Homeworld Repeater
• Antimatter x10
• Salvaged Hyperdrive Upgrade
• Orange paint freighter customisation

Rendezvous 5

Objective: Reach the final rendezvous point.

The planet is called Madush XIV, and it’s located in the Kariash system. This one’s not quite as deep as the previous two, but the Nautilon still does come in handy.

Reward:

• 3,333 Nanites
• Salvaged Frigate Module
• Inventory Slot x2
• Multi-Tool Expansion Slot
• Cargo Bulkhead

A Life Beneath the Sky

Objective: Discover 25 creatures.

I can’t believe how late in the Expedition this milestone shows up, because you could hypothetically have it done within like 20 minutes or so if you just focus on scanning animals. This is super easy.

Reward:

• Creature Pellets x25
• Supreme Scanning System Upgrade
• Faecium x128

Mission Control

Objective: Expand your fleet to 8 frigates.

For this, you need to buy a bunch of frigates. You should have one when you begin the Expedition, so you need to acquire seven more. If you’ve done the Leviathan Expedition or the Beachhead Expedition, you can pick up your rewards at the Nexus and get that number up to two or three. But you still will have to buy the other ones to get you up to eight.

For this, all you have to do is approach a group of freighters out in space. Some of them will have a money sign near them, with the words “Recruitable Frigate.”

When you get close to it, you should get a call on your communicator. Answer it, and you should get an offer to buy the frigate and add it to your fleet.

Note that these are generally super expensive. We’re talking millions of units per frigate. But at this point, you should have completed the “Gold Like Sand” milestone, meaning you have some money to spend.

Reward:

• Salvaged Fleet Fuel Unit
• Salvaged Fleet Trade Unit
• Salvaged Fleet Mining Unit
• Terrifying Sample

Deep Sleep Cruise

Objective: Make contact with the others.

Once you’ve completed the final rendezvous point, return to your freighter. There should be an item in your freighter’s inventory called the Homeworld Repeater. Move that into either your starship inventory or your Exosuit inventory.

Fly into space, then activate the Homeworld Repeater. After that, engage your Pulse Drive to triangulate the signal or whatever. When the signal completes, exit Pulse Drive mode to encounter a mysterious object in space. When you approach it, you will be contacted. Use your Starship Communicator to receive the message and get the blueprints for the Singularity Engine.

Reward:

• Singularity Engine plans

Superluminal

Objective: Install the Singularity Engine and travel via wormhole.

If you’ve completed the previous milestone, you should have the blueprints for the Singularity Engine. This one requires:

• Warp Hypercore
• Crystal Sulfide x3
• Ionized Cobalt x120

I’ve already talked about Crystal Sulfide (see the “Freedom of the Seas” milestone) and the Ionized Cobalt (see the “Drop Protocol” milestone), so now I’ll explain the Warp Hypercore. This is also something that needs to be crafted, and the components needed are:

• Antimatter
• Storm Crystal

There’s no way you’ve made it this far without figuring out the antimatter, but we haven’t talked about Storm Crystals yet. These are electric crystals that only appear on planets during extreme storms. You can actually see storms from space; they get all gray and blurry like this:

However, not all storms are extreme storms. You might be searching for a long time before you get any to appear.

There’s another option, of course. Storm Crystals — and even Warp Hypercores — can occasionally be obtained via missions. Check the mission specialist in space stations, or visit the Nexus to engage in community missions.

Normally, I don’t struggle finding Storm Crystals in No Man’s Sky, but for some reason, this one turned out to be a real challenge for me. Good luck on your own hunt, fellow interloper.

Anyway, once you have the components, return to your freighter and install the Singularity Engine. Once it’s installed, you’ll need to talk to your freighter captain to activate it.

And, what the hey? I’ll share this image one more time:

When you talk to this alien, you should now see the “Engage Singularity Engine.” Select that, and you’ll go blasting through space. This will earn you the final milestone in the Polestar Expedition.

Reward:

• Chromatic Warp Shielding plans
• Temporal Warp Computer plans
• Salvaged Hyperdrive Upgrade
• Hyperdrive plans

Final Reward

Of course, once you’ve done all of this, there’s one last reward to claim.

Completion reward:

• Child of Helios Companion Egg