4Game

I had an interesting idea for how mining ores on planet surfaces could work.

Maybe using the surface scanner could reveal mineral hotspots as it does for rings. Once landing on the surface, you could use a specialized type of SRV specialized for mining. This SRV would be larger and have much more cargo space, maybe like 5-7 slots or more. It would also be equipped with a 3 bin refinery, a pulse-wave scanner-like device to scan for deposits, and a laser or drill for mining. I'm not sure what a good name for it would be, maybe "Boar" or "Mastodon" or something. Activate the pulse wave scanner to locate deposits that would glow depending on size or richness. Then once one is located you can use a new tool or specialized prospector limpet that takes a surface sample and analyses it to find out the composition of the deposit. Then the drill or mining laser bores into the surface and dredges up chunks of ore to be collected and refined.

Perhaps there could be new ores depending on the planet. Perhaps on ice worlds, you can find frozen nitrogen, CO2, ammonia, and methane ices. On rocky worlds, you can find salt or carbonate deposits from prehistoric oceans long since dried up. On planets with biological life on them maybe you could find hydrocarbon deposits such as coal or oil that could be used for making plastics, or nutrient-rich soil that can be sold to agriculture stations. I also like the idea of being able to take a surface sample while out exploring, and being able to analyze its composition and sell it to a station for credits depending on its contents. It would add a nice detail and give more motivation to visit planetary surfaces and add more things to do there.

​

Let me know what you think like if this would actually work or if the devs would add something like this in the future.