No Man's Sky Expedition 8: Polestar Phase 1 Walkthrough

Expedition 8: Polestar Phase 1 will have players start off within a freighter for a change in this newest community expedition. As part of the Endurance Update, freighters and frigates will be given much more focus this time as they become the center of the expedition’s narrative.

In this guide, we will have an in-depth guide about the first phase of Expedition 8: Polestar, and share some tips along the way.

No Man’s Sky Expedition 8: Polestar Tips

We’re starting off with some basic tips and helpful info that can make your expedition run a lot more smoother.

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.
Though it is possible to complete some milestones ahead of time, be mindful about your limited inventory space when claiming their rewards. You can always check in the Expeditions tab to see what rewards will be given per milestone.
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.

How to Complete No Man’s Sky Expedition 8: Polestar Phase 1

Phase 1 has eight milestones which are mostly about preparing your freighter for the expedition. There will be several components that will have to be repaired, as well as freighter rooms that will have to be constructed.

Log 1: Emergency

As you wake up inside the bridge of a freighter, talk to the Freighter Captain and choose the option Access ship’s log. After going through the logs, you’ll then complete the milestone.

Log 1: Emergency rewards:

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

All Hands on Deck

The logs will state that you will need to repair the Atmospheric Control Unit of the freighter. The repair will need these materials:

x60 Chromatic Metal
x30 Gold
x1 Wiring Loom

You won’t need to farm for these materials yet as the freighter have them in its inventory. Go to Inventory > Freighter tab and repair the module using the materials.

All Hands on Deck rewards:

x2 Antimatter
x3 Starship Launch Fuel
x2 Repair Kit

Planetside

Your next task is to go to a nearby planet. Head to the freighter’s landing bay where you will find your starship. This starship may be burning, but it is just a graphical glitch as the ship itself is fully operational. Board it and fly towards the closest planet. Once you arrive, get out of your ship and you’ll complete the milestone.

Before heading back to the ship, spend some time gathering the basic resources such as Carbon, Condensed Carbon, Oxygen, Ferrite Dust, Di-hydrogen, and Sodium. You’ll be needing these to craft some upgrades for your self such as the Terrain Manipulator for your Multi-Tool, and to construct the rooms required for the next milestones.

Don’t forget to spend some time scanning all the flora, fauna, and minerals as well.

Planetside rewards:

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

Also check out our guide on How to Complete Planetside in No Man’s Sky Expedition 8: Polestar.

A Well-Oiled Machine

Once you have gathered enough materials, ride your starship back to your freighter and construct a Refiner Room. This room requires:

x60 Silver
x2 Di-hydrogen Jelly
- x40 Di-hydrogen/pc
x45 Gold

Choose a location inside the buildable area in your freighter and construct it to complete the milestone.

A Well-Oiled Machine rewards:

Warp Hypercore
Storage Room plans

Engage Engines

The next milestone requires you to warp to another star system using your freighter. You can use the Warp Hypercore to power up the freighter’s drive and move to a neighboring system.

Now, this milestone does not really have any rewards that is required for progressing to the next few milestones, so we recommend to spend some more time exploring the other planets in the starting system and try to gather more resources, units, and nanites. You can also do the other scanning milestones as it is possible to complete all of them without even going to another system.

You can then just warp out of the system into the next one as you see fit to complete this milestone.

Engage Engines rewards:

Warp Hypercore plans
Salvaged Hyperdrive Upgrade
Amplified Warp Shielding plans

Supercargo

For this milestone, you just simply have to construct a Storage Room within your freighter. This room requires:

x50 Silver
x20 Sodium

Once again, select a part of the freighter where you want to place the room and then construct it to complete the milestone.

Supercargo rewards:

Interstellar Scanner plans
x2 Salvaged Frigate Module

Galactic Catalogue

The next task is for you to install an Interstellar Scanner for the freighter to be able to see the economy and conflict data of neighboring systems. This component requires a lot more materials to craft than the previous ones:

x160 Chromatic Metal
x70 Magnetised Ferrite
x2 Wiring Loom

Chromatic Metal can sometimes be purchased in Galactic Trade Terminals in space stations, or it can be refined using Copper, Cadmium, Emeril, Indium, or their activated variants on a Refiner. The easiest way to get a lot of Chromatic Metal is by blowing up the Cargo Pods of freighters in space, however this can be a bit dangerous if your starship’s shields can’t handle the enemies’ firepower.

Magnetised Ferrite can also be bough in trade terminals sometimes, and can also be refined from Pure Ferrite.

Wiring Looms are often sold at trade terminals or they can also be purchased from the visiting NPCs in space stations.

Galactic Catalogue rewards:

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

Rendezvous 1

For the final milestone of this phase, you’ll need to warp to the marked star system on the galactic map. It requires a couple of jumps so you’ll have to make sure that you have enough fuel.

You first have to repair your Freighter Hyperdrive using the following materials:

x250 Chromatic Metal
x2 Antimatter
- x25 Chromatic Metal
- x20 Condensed Carbon
x2 Antimatter Housing
- x30 Oxygen
- x50 Ferrite Dust

Repair the hyperdrive and do a system jump. Once you arrive in the star system, fly in your starship to follow the marker down on the planet where you will arrive at a crashed freighter. Upon exiting your ship and arriving at the rendezvous point, you’ll complete the milestone.

Take note that you can still explore the starting system for longer before doing the jump.

As for the hyperdrive fuel, you’ll be needing a lot of Warp Cells, so stock up on those Antimatter and Antimatter materials, unless you can get your hands on some Storm Crystals to create some Warp Hypercores.

Rendezvous 1 rewards:

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

Expedition 8: Polestar Phase 1 Completion Rewards

Once you’ve completed all milestones for this phase, you can claim these rewards from the Phase 1 badge in the Expedition page. You can also already claim them in your other save files even before completing the expedition.