No Man’s Sky Expedition 8: Polestar Guide & Rewards

An overview on what is in store in Expedition 8: Polestar of No Man's Sky.

By Dave Acuñaon
No Man's Sky Expedition 8 Polestar Overview cover

No Man’s Sky Expedition 8: Polestar is the newest community expedition following the release of the Endurance update. In this expedition, the main focus will be the overhauled freighters which will become the main mode of transport throughout all the phases of the current expedition. Thankfully this time, it’s not in permadeath mode, so players can just take it easy when completing objectives.

In this guide, we will be talking about all the steps within Expedition 8: Polestar, and provide some tips on how to complete the expedition right away.

Expedition 8: Polestar Tips

For both veterans and newbies to community expeditions, we’ve put up a couple of tips in here to make your expedition experience a little easier. If you like to take on the expedition as it is and would like to avoid some spoilers, you can skip this part and proceed to the guide below.

  • Similar to past expeditions, this expedition is divided into five phases with a number of objectives in each phase. Most of the phases are not locked towards objective progressions, therefore some of them can be completed in advance, such as obtaining a certain amount of units, destroying pirate ships, or scanning a number of flora and fauna.
  • Speaking of scanning, a number of objectives all throughout the phases will require you to scan certain numbers of fauna, flora, and minerals. So as soon as you land on your first planet, try to spend a few moments to scan all of the things that you can scan to make some early progress on these objectives.
  • One major difference of this expedition when it comes to its ending is that you can already end the expedition as soon as you complete all the phases; you no longer have to wait for the entire community expedition to end after 6 weeks.
  • We recommend to quickly do a scan of all the milestones in this expedition to get an idea what the tasks are so that you can make your journey a bit more efficient. Almost every milestone can be seen even at the very start of the expedition.
  • We also recommend to start building a fleet of frigates and building multiple command rooms for them as there is a milestone that requires 8 fleet expeditions. Though short 1-2hr, expeditions are counted, starting early will help you avoid spending time just waiting for these expeditions to be done.
How long will No Man’s Sky Polestar Expedition 8 last?

Expedition 8: Polestar started on July 27, 2022 and will last for 6 weeks.

How to Complete No Man’s Sky Expedition 8: Polestar

The basic structure of a community expedition still applies to Expedition 8: Polestar wherein you will have to go through phases 1 to 5 by completing milestones. As you complete the milestones, rewards will become available to claim within the Expedition tab. These rewards vary from resources, blueprints, or even items necessary to complete the next milestones.

After completing a phase, additional rewards can be claimed that will be tied to the main account. These rewards can be shared with the other save files within the account and they can be claimed once per save file.

Here’s an overview of the No Man’s Sky Polestar Expedition 8 quests, milestones and rewards:

Expedition 8: Polestar Phase 1

You wake up and find yourself in the bridge of a freighter that you will be in charge of for the entire expedition. During this phase, you’ll go through the initial steps of making sure that your starship and your freighter will be able to stand the long journey ahead.

You will have to construct the basic and essential equipment in the freighter such as the Refiner Room, the Storage Room, and the Interstellar Scanner. Despite being a freighter-focused expedition, you will still have to visit planets from time to time, mostly to gather materials.

Some of the important resources to stock up on are Carbon, Di-hydrogen, and Sodium. You can also stop by at stations and purchase other resources to make sure that you have enough to recharge your shields and multi-tool. Keep in mind that you only have limited inventory space for now, so only get the essentials.

  • 1.1 Log 1: Emergency: Read the first entry in the ship’s log.
  • 1.2 All Hands on Deck: Repair vital freighter systems.
  • 1.3 Planetside: Set foot on land.
  • 1.4 A Well-Oiled Machine: Construct a Refiner Room.
  • 1.5 Engage Engines: Warp with your capital ship.
  • 1.6 Supercargo: Construct a Storage Room.
  • 1.7 Galactic Catalogue: Install an Interstellar Scanner.
  • 1.8 Rendezvous 1: Reach the 1st rendezvous.

See all the steps in our complete No Man’s Sky Expedition 8: Polestar Phase 1 Walkthrough.

Phase 1 Completion Rewards

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

Expedition 8: Polestar Phase 2

After reaching the first rendezvous point, you will have to check back with the captain to proceed. The next milestone is another rendezvous point, but it’s not necessary to go to it and complete it right away. Take the time to gather materials and invest on upgrading both your freighter and expanding your inventory spaces.

In this phase, you will have to dabble on other types of transport systems which are the Exocrafts, such as the Nautilon. You will also get to learn the Teleporter blueprints which can also be used inside your freighter base for ease of access.

One optional milestone in this phase will have you visit another active freighter base, so try to visit the first one that you see from a friend or a random player to knock this milestone out of your to-do list and get a boost of units for another milestone further down the line.

  • 2.1 Log 2: Into the Black: read the second entry in the ship’s log.
  • 2.2 Rendezvous 2: Reach the 2nd rendezvous.
  • 2.3 Drop Protocol: Construct an Orbital Exocraft Materialiser.
  • 2.4 Freedom of the Seas: Deploy a Submarine.
  • 2.5 Across Infinity: Construct a Teleport Chamber.
  • 2.6 The Engine of Life: Discover 20 Plants.
  • 2.7 The Air We Breathe: Construct a Double Cultivation Chamber.
  • 2.8 Hospitality: Visit someone else’s freighter base. (optional)

See all the steps in our complete No Man’s Sky Expedition 8: Polestar Phase 2 Walkthrough.

Phase 2 Completion Rewards

  • High-Gravity Freighter Trail

Expedition 8: Polestar Phase 3

Phase 3 will have you do some more work on expanding your freighter, so prepare to gather some more materials. Creating a Galactic Trade Room is listed as having a prerequisite mission, so do the Farseer milestone first by constructing a Scanner room. Having a Galactic Trade Room saves you trips to space stations just to sell stuff.

We’ve mentioned in the tips section before that one of the milestones will need you to deploy 8 fleet expeditions, so by now you’ll need to have at least 1-2 command rooms to speed up the process and always have an expedition going in the background.

You will also need to build your own squadron of three pilots. Unlocking the squadron slots will cost a lot of Nanites, so try to save up by doing missions, converting goop, or doing contraband runs where you can buy suspicious packages on the side. You will need 11,800 Nanites in total to unlock all three slots for this milestone. As for the pilots, it can be any pilot with any ship class.

Depending on how you chose to tackle your adventure up until this point, you may have even defeated enough pirates to complete one of the milestones. if not, then having a squadron helps speed things up.

Super Speedrun Technique for the Called by Stars Milestone

If you don’t really care about the expedition loot and just want to get it over with the Called by Stars milestone, then what you can do is to prepare enough fuel to make 8 expeditions for a single frigate, and then send it to an expedition. As soon as it goes, abort the mission right away and debrief with the frigate captain at the command room and it will still count as a completed expedition for the milestone. With this, you can practically finish the entire milestone within 5-10 minutes.

  • 3.1 Log 3: Homesick: Read the third entry in the ship’s log.
  • 3.2 Rendezvous 3: Reach the 3rd rendezvous.
  • 3.3 Power and Industry: Construct a Stellar Extractor Room.
  • 3.4 Wing Commander: recruit 3 pilots to your squadron.
  • 3.5 Galactic Defender: Shoot down 16 pirates.
  • 3.6 Called by the Stars: Complete 8 fleet expeditions.
  • 3.7 Farseer: Construct a Scanner Room.
  • 3.8 Home Comforts: Construct a Galactic Trade Room.

See all the steps in our complete No Man’s Sky Expedition 8: Polestar Phase 3 Walkthrough.

Phase 3 Completion Rewards

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

Expedition 8: Polestar Phase 4

In Phase 4, your focus will be on locating and repairing a crashed ship. Locating one can be sped up by using Planetary Charts (Emergency Cartographic Data), so make sure to save up on Navigation Data for these. Once a crashed ship is located, you only need to fix its Pulse Engine and Launch Thruster since you’ll later be scrapping the ship.

For most of the other milestones in this phase, you may have already completed them in advance. If not, take the time to clear them out before heading to the next rendezvous point. If you haven’t done the Hospitality optional milestone yet and you still need more units, consider doing it.

  • 4.1 Log 4: No Going Back: Read the fourth entry in the ship’s log.
  • 4.2 Rendezvous 4: Reach the 4th rendezvous.
  • 4.3 Stardust: Destroy 50 asteroids.
  • 4.4 Reclamation: Restore a crashed ship.
  • 4.5 Recycling: Repurpose a starship for scrap.
  • 4.6 Prospector: Discover 15 Minerals.
  • 4.7 Gold like Sand: Earn 9,000,000 Units.

See all the steps in our complete No Man’s Sky Expedition 8: Polestar Phase 4 Walkthrough.

Phase 4 Completion Rewards

  • Fleet Commander’s Cape

Expedition 8: Polestar Phase 5

You’re on the final stretch of this expedition now. Most of the milestones in this phase are part of the story and are pretty much straightforward. The only milestones that you’ll need to work on, if you haven’t completed them earlier yet, would be getting 8 frigates for your fleet and scanning 25 creatures.

Other than those two, you’re pretty much on cruise control until the end of the expedition as you just have to follow along with the narrative of the story: activate the Homeworld Repeater, interact with the mysterious entity, install the Singularity Engine, and travel through the wormhole.

  • 5.1 Log 5 Horizons: Read the final entry in the ship’s log.
  • 5.2 Rendezvous 5: Reach the final rendezvous.
  • 5.3 A Life Beneath the Sky: Discover 25 Creatures.
  • 5.4 Mission Control: Expand your fleet.
  • 5.5 Deep Sleep Cruise: Make contact.
  • 5.6 Superluminal: Perform a gravity slingshot.

See all the steps in our complete No Man’s Sky Expedition 8: Polestar Phase 5 Walkthrough.

Phase 5 Completion Rewards

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

NMS Expedition 8: Polestar Reward

  • Child of Helios Companion Egg

Don’t forget that you can already end the expedition as soon as you complete all the phases; no need to wait until the full 6 weeks. You’ll be given the option to convert the expedition save file to a normal one, should you wish to proceed playing in it. Otherwise, you can head back to your main save file and claim all of the expedition rewards from the Quicksilver Synthesis Companion at the Anomaly.

Congratulations, you have completed the expedition!

If you like this guide, be sure to check out our other No Man’s Sky articles:

Check out this video by Xxiou Games showing a quick rundown of the entire Expedition 8: