The free update lets Travellers become directors of Space Stations, create galactic alliances, build free-floating orbital bases, explore persistent deep-space points of interest, dismantle unstable ship hulks for physical salvage, visit asteroid and ice fields, fly all the way to a system’s star, and spacewalk from almost any ship.
Hello Games released COSMOS on September 9, 2026 for existing players across PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, Mac and VR platforms.
The studio describes it as one of its biggest updates yet and the first major overhaul of space itself in No Man’s Sky’s ten-year history.
COSMOS in one sentence: space is no longer mostly the distance between planets. It is now filled with places to visit, resources to recover, stations and bases to build, alliances to develop and dangerous locations worth exploring on foot.
Table of Contents
- Everything new at a glance
- Own and customize a Space Station
- Galactic Alliances
- Build bases in space
- New Star System Map and deep-space exploration
- Derelict Hulks and shipbreaking
- Deep-Space Outposts and missions
- Improved spacewalking
- Corvette Tractor Beam and physical salvage
- Asteroid belts, ice fields and reachable stars
- Our Journey Continues Expedition
- Graphics and performance improvements
- Quality-of-life changes and fixes
Everything new in No Man’s Sky COSMOS at a glance
| Feature | What COSMOS adds |
|---|---|
| Space Station Directorship | Take control of a station and redesign its interior and exterior. |
| Galactic Alliances | Create or join player alliances linked through owned stations. |
| Orbital Bases | Build freely in space or on natural asteroid platforms. |
| Star System Map | Track planets, stations and persistent deep-space points of interest. |
| Deep-Space Hulks | Spacewalk through giant wrecks and physically strip them for salvage. |
| Deep-Space Outposts | Trade, process resources and take salvage contracts. |
| Spacewalking | Exit non-Corvette ships and move with full six degrees of freedom. |
| Tractor Beam | New Corvette attachment for collecting and processing physical cargo. |
| New Space POIs | Asteroid belts, ice fields, debris, infested outposts and orbital platforms. |
| Reachable Stars | Players can now fly directly toward a system’s star. |
| Expedition 23 | A ten-year retrospective with nostalgic rewards and developer commentary. |
| Rendering Upgrade | Better terrain, clouds, particles, fog, water and new PC upscaling options. |
You can finally take control of a Space Station
One of COSMOS’ headline systems is Space Station Directorship.
After proving yourself to the relevant local authorities, you can become director of a station and begin treating it much more like your own large-scale base.
Directors can change existing decorations, add massive exterior modules and reorganize the central interior space using the existing range of base-building parts.
You can also expand the station itself by constructing additional rooms connected to the main hangar.
Hello Games has added hundreds of new decorative station parts. Many can be unlocked through the Construction Research Terminal aboard the Space Anomaly, while some rarer designs can be discovered through deep-space anomalies.
Galactic Alliances turn stations into multiplayer hubs
Space Station ownership connects directly to another new feature: Galactic Alliances.
A station director can found an alliance, give it a name and banner, and invite other Travellers to join. Players can also join an existing alliance by visiting one of its owned stations.
Each player can belong to up to three alliances.
The teleporter provides quick access to systems controlled by your alliance, effectively allowing groups to develop connected networks of stations across the galaxy.
Alliance activity is tracked too. The largest, most active and most expansive groups appear on leaderboards accessible from the Space Station core.
Why this matters: COSMOS gives community groups something more persistent to build around. A Space Station can now function as a shared headquarters rather than simply another stop for trading and upgrades.
You can build a base almost anywhere in space
Planetary bases are no longer your only option.
COSMOS introduces Orbital Construction, allowing players to deploy a deep-space base computer and claim an empty volume of space for construction.
You can create orbital habitats, stations, restaurants, outposts or whatever else fits within the building system.
Natural asteroid platforms can also serve as foundations.
That means you do not always need to begin with empty space. Some locations provide dramatic chunks of rock floating above planets that can be turned into genuinely strange orbital settlements.
The new Star System Map makes space worth exploring
COSMOS adds a local Star System Map accessible through the Quick Menu.
It shows celestial bodies, the local Space Station and newly discovered deep-space points of interest. Players can mark a planet or POI and use navigational assistance to travel toward it.
Points of interest appear once a save has reached the Space Anomaly for the first time, and Hello Games has added a light tutorial mission called Signals to introduce the new navigation system.
More importantly, space POIs now occupy persistent positions. Asteroid belts, outposts, wrecks and anomalies are places you can find and revisit rather than disposable scenery appearing only for a moment.
New locations include:
- rocky asteroid belts,
- icy asteroid fields,
- inhabited deep-space outposts,
- infested outposts,
- procedurally generated space hulks,
- debris fields,
- asteroid platforms,
- and the actual star or stars of the system.
Derelict Hulks turn spacewalking into a salvage run
Some of the most dangerous additions are colossal derelict ship hulks drifting in deep space.
These wrecks are explorable through EVA. Players can move through damaged chambers and narrow passages while searching for cargo and technology.
The catch is structural integrity.
Dismantling parts can destabilize the hulk, potentially triggering a meltdown and eventually a catastrophic explosion. That makes salvage a risk-and-reward problem: grab the most valuable pieces first, or stay longer and risk being caught in the wreck when it fails.
Every component removed from a hulk becomes physical industrial salvage rather than simply another abstract inventory pickup.
Deep-Space Outposts create a new salvage economy
Alien civilizations have established Deep-Space Outposts throughout inhabited systems.
These act as service stations for the new exploration loop. An alien quartermaster trades maps and salvaged materials, while a salvage and delivery terminal provides contracts.
Contracts can task Travellers with recovering materials and completing salvage operations in exchange for standing and rewards.
Raw materials gathered in space can also be processed at these outposts into more valuable commodities before being sold through the Galactic Trade Network.
Infested Outposts add biological horror
Not every outpost is operating normally.
Some have been consumed by invasive biological material. These Infested Outposts contain resources including pathogen sacs and gelatinous fibres.
Biohazard cleanup operations require players to use the Gravitino Coil to remove the organic mass and reach valuable samples buried inside.
Spacewalking is no longer just a Corvette feature
Voyagers made walking around and leaving Corvettes one of No Man’s Sky’s most memorable recent features. COSMOS dramatically expands the idea.
Any pilot can now eject from a non-Corvette starship while in space using the Quick Menu.
EVA movement has also been upgraded to true six degrees of freedom, including rolling.
Hello Games improved transitions between free flight and objects with gravity, while explosions can now physically knock a Traveller backward during a spacewalk.
There is also an environmental survival consideration: EVA drains your Exosuit’s cold protection unless another nearby hazard changes the conditions.
If you missed the update that laid the groundwork for these systems, see our No Man’s Sky Voyagers breakdown.
Corvettes get a Tractor Beam
Corvette builders have a major new utility module to install: the Tractor Beam.
The attachment collects physical salvage and minerals into the Corvette’s cargo hold.
Players can use the Gravitino Coil to launch salvage toward the beam. Large objects that cannot physically fit into storage are processed automatically.
The Tractor Beam can be bought alongside other Corvette components at the Corvette Workshop in Space Stations.
The system also includes automated cargo venting, letting pilots quickly eject collected material from their Corvette.
Hello Games additionally improved Gravitino Coil handling, animations and crosshairs, and the tool can now be equipped inside Space Stations.
Asteroid belts, ice fields and the Sun are now actual destinations
Asteroid belts
Dense asteroid belts now exist as dedicated points of interest rather than simply scattered rocks surrounding your ship.
They contain rare minerals and unusual crystals, but their value also attracts prospectors, traders and outlaws.
Ice fields
Space also contains glittering ice fields where Travellers can harvest stellar ice and other resources.
As with asteroid belts, miners, traders and pirates may already be operating there.
You can finally fly toward the star
COSMOS also answers one of those classic No Man’s Sky questions that players inevitably test eventually.
The star at the center of a system is now a physical point of interest that can be reached through long-haul flight.
Getting there is possible. Surviving the burning sphere of plasma is a different matter.
Expedition 23 celebrates ten years of No Man’s Sky
COSMOS is accompanied by Expedition Twenty-Three: Our Journey Continues.
The roughly six-week event is structured as a tour through the history of No Man’s Sky. Each milestone represents an important update or moment from the game’s development since 2016.
Sean Murray provides developer commentary for the milestones, sharing stories and details from the game’s history. Once unlocked, these recordings remain available in the Collected Knowledge section of the Catalogue.
Expedition rewards include:
- Golden Rasamama S36, based on the classic starter ship,
- Vintage Sentinel Interceptor reconstructed from pre-release footage,
- Starbound v0.27 Multi-Tool based on early concept art,
- a resurrected and reworked Diplodocus companion from early No Man’s Sky footage,
- an Astronaut cockpit figurine,
- framed artwork based on major update covers,
- decals,
- and commemorative player titles.
The expedition is essentially a playable museum of No Man’s Sky’s transformation from its 2016 launch to Update 7.0.
That makes COSMOS a natural continuation of this year’s The Swarm update, which pushed the game’s multiplayer space battles much further earlier in 2026.
Twitch Drops are back for COSMOS
Hello Games is also running another Twitch Drops campaign.
Players can earn base parts, starships, Multi-Tools, creatures, fireworks and appearance items by linking their accounts and watching eligible No Man’s Sky streams.
The current campaign runs from September 10 through September 14.
Rewards can even be earned before buying No Man’s Sky, then claimed later after the game is connected to the same account.
COSMOS also brings a substantial visual upgrade
Update 7.0 does not stop at new content.
Hello Games has made significant changes to rendering across the game.
Terrain detail has been improved
Planetary terrain tessellation has been overhauled to provide higher geometric detail and improved ground textures.
Clouds look better from orbit
Clouds viewed from space now use upgraded textures, shapes, ambient tint and lighting.
Particles interact with lighting
Transparent objects, particles, fog and atmospheric effects can now receive dynamic lighting. A Multi-Tool torch, for example, can illuminate smoke and mist much more naturally.
Deep-space fog and effects
Hulks and other new space locations use additional volumetric fog, electrical fields, smoke, stardust, debris trails and biological effects.
Water improvements
Water and foam rendering have been improved, including better transitions between atmosphere and planetary surfaces, more accurate reflections and reduced visual popping.
Asteroids have been rebuilt
Asteroid generation has been reworked for better distribution, draw distance and performance.
DLSS 4.5 and XeSS 3
On PC, COSMOS adds support for Intel XeSS 3 and NVIDIA DLSS 4.5, including 5x and 6x Frame Generation on compatible hardware.
HDR can now also be used alongside Frame Generation.
PCVR gets foveated rendering
Eye-tracked foveated rendering is now supported on compatible PCVR hardware, concentrating rendering detail where the player is looking.
Performance improvements are spread across every part of the game
Hello Games has also optimized several systems under the hood.
- Xbox now supports bindless textures, samplers and buffers to reduce rendering CPU usage.
- Console file handling has been optimized, improving load times by roughly 6-9%.
- Multiplayer latency has been reduced.
- Settlements received CPU optimizations.
- Inventories are more efficient.
- HUD markers perform better when many are visible.
- Complex bases now update asynchronously to reduce frame-rate hitches.
- Base loading and power queries have been optimized.
- Procedural object loading is faster.
- Animation performance has been improved.
- Mesh data has been reduced by around 13%.
- Multiple memory leaks and out-of-memory crashes have been fixed.
- Planetary object fading has been improved, particularly on Nintendo Switch.
Corvette improvements and smaller quality-of-life changes
COSMOS also cleans up several systems introduced in previous updates.
Corvettes received fixes for recoloring in VR, incorrect stat displays, flight judder, shuffled technology positions, ramp states and landing problems at the Space Station and Space Anomaly.
Pilots can now leave a Corvette pilot seat when cruising very close to large objects in space, and hull collision detection has been improved.
Elsewhere:
- fully depleted planetary resource deposits no longer clutter the Analysis Visor,
- Exocraft UI readability has been improved in VR,
- multiplayer ship animations have been fixed,
- Frigate Expedition difficulty calculation has been improved,
- creature navigation around buildings and slopes is better,
- adult creatures now respond more consistently when their offspring are attacked,
- several base parts can once again be recolored correctly,
- fishing missions now warn players when a fishing rig is required,
- Sentinel Interceptors can properly despawn after a pursued player lands,
- Settlement costs have received a bug fix,
- several mission, UI, localization and base-building issues have been corrected,
- and modders receive additional support for trigger actions.
COSMOS even fixes the brief “Lorem Ipsum” placeholder that could appear while repairing your starting ship, which may be the least spectacular item in Update 7.0 but is still technically part of the package.
No Man’s Sky COSMOS makes space feel like a destination
The biggest change in COSMOS is not one individual mechanic.
It is the way the new systems connect.
You open the Star System Map and discover a hulk. You leave your ship and spacewalk through it. You salvage physical cargo before the wreck becomes unstable. Your Corvette collects that cargo with a Tractor Beam. You haul it to a deep-space outpost, process it and either sell the results or use some of the salvage to customize your own Space Station.
That station can become the headquarters of an alliance, while another group of players builds an orbital base around an asteroid somewhere else in the same system.
For a game that has always been described as being about space exploration, space itself finally has much more to do.
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