Few games, if any, do exploration as well as Elite Dangerous. In a 1:1 recreation of our galaxy with 400 billion star systems and innumerable explorable planets, there’s truly endless adventure to be had. Thanks to our lively community of veteran Elite Dangerous players and content creators, we’re able to produce super in-depth guides explaining everything you need to know about the game’s official and unofficial career paths. In this case, 23 expert players combined their knowledge to create this Elite Dangerous exploration guide. 

This beginner- and intermediate-friendly guide is split into three parts: before you undock, the journey, and homeward bound. We’ve also included supplementary sections on exploration philosophy and exploration tools. There’s a lot to cover, but by the end, you’ll know all you need to be one of the galaxy’s finest. So strap in, Commander, the ride of a lifetime awaits!

Elite Dangerous exploration guide part one: before you undock

Why explore in Elite Dangerous? 

“If you’re a person who likes to discover the beautiful corners of Elite Dangerous, then exploration is the path for you. Looking to the endless horizons of alien planets is the real sense of freedom you’re searching for, so prepare yourself and follow this guide; it’ll put you on the path to become a legendary explorer of the Milky Way.” - Hunter

There are countless reasons to partake in Elite Dangerous exploration. Let’s run through a few: 

It’s easy! 

Both Matt G and Slamscape note that exploration is one of the game’s easiest activities to get into, with the latter adding: 

“It can be as simple as just using your discovery scanner in a new system and turning in the data. The best way to get into it is just picking a direction out of the Bubble and going exploring. It’s surprising how easy it is to find new things just 1,500 ly [light years] outside the Bubble.”

Note: The Bubble refers to Elite’s densely populated core systems, you can learn about it in our Elite Dangerous starter guide. 

There’s so much to see!  

The tenth Elite Dangerous anniversary passed in late 2024, and yet only a tiny fraction of the galaxy has been explored. Here’s USCSS: 

“Exploration is the biggest and best thing Elite Dangerous has going. Only about 0.0003% of the galaxy has been explored.”

As yan57436 points out, you never know what you might find: “Exploration is the path for the free-spirited in pursuit of different landscapes, immersive activities in unexplored systems, ancient relics, and the search of the unknown.”

mypets describes it as a “fantastic experience that goes far beyond travelling far and wide; the experience of discovering strange and unique places is truly rewarding.” Check out this brilliant video from Beetlejude, for a taste of what it’s like to discover one of the “little pieces of mystery scattered throughout the game” - a Generation Ship: 

The thrill of first discovery! 

Why pay a company to name a star, when you could earn it instead? After handing in their cartographic data, explorers will be permanently credited for their discoveries and leave their mark on the galaxy. Here’s Dydo: 

“The game registers your name when you discover stars and planets that no one else has visited, as well as when you explore them more deeply. Your first is always memorable. The next ones are addictive.”

To increase your credits and ranking!

You’ll earn credits for your discoveries and improve your Explorer rank via the submission of cartographic data. If you also take part in exoscanning via exploration’s sister activity exobiology, you’ll have a very healthy income stream.  

“The best way to get into exploration is to have the curiosity and drive to explore the unknown. For me, it started with the drive to get my name on a star, then it turned into a personal challenge to see how far I could go, or visiting distant nebulae. Now I just do it for the joy.” - Ilyssoll 

For the view! 

Do it for the ‘gram, or at very least for the screenies! Once taken, you can submit them to our regular screenshot contests to win real cash and have your work featured in our galleries,  like this: Elite Dangerous landed ship screenshots. 

For a taste of what you can expect out in the black, check out these five videos showing a Day in the Life of an Elite Dangerous explorer! 

Elite Dangerous exploration ships, modules, and outfitting

The best Elite Dangerous exploration ships

Before embarking on a grand odyssey, Dydo recommends completing some small missions to earn enough money for an exploration-ready ship. As Niceygy notes: “Exploration in Elite Dangerous is beautifully simple, you can technically do it in any ship.” That said, there are two ED exploration ships that the community strongly recommends for new players:

The Asp Explorer

“The Asp has a good balance of cost and jump capacity, allowing even early players to travel a good distance.” yan57436 

“Don’t knock the Asp! Some might scoff at it because it’s so commonly recommended to new explorers, but it’s recommended for good reason. It’s a great all-round ship with space for your SRV. Engineered, it’ll have a very respectable jump range. Plus, it’s pretty cheap!” - CelestialFlea

“It’s a superb ship for these early-stage purposes. It’s affordable and nigh-on invites you to fulfil the exploration role.” - MQC

“I find the Asp Explorer to be the most useful because it can be equipped with a larger fuel collector (up to size six). Mine is a bit of a mess from all the jumps I’ve made exploring in it.” USCSS

The Diamondback Explorer

“It’s very efficient over long distances, and it’s affordable!” - mypets

“What could fit better than a ship with ‘Explorer’ in its name? Other ships work too, but the DBX is one of the better options for beginners.” - XCezor

Other recommended exploration ships

Alternate ships recommended by our community members include the Dolphin, Cobra Mk 3, Krait Phantom, and the mighty Anaconda. Your main considerations should be your budget, a ship that has a good jump range (30ly will suffice, but 50ly is recommended for travel outside the Bubble), and as LiquidMorkite points out: “a ship that you enjoy flying in - one whose cockpit you love sitting in.”

Check out this exploration ship tier list from Yan57436, for a helpful S-D rank breakdown : 

You’ll notice that a ship we haven’t mentioned sits alongside the Asp in the top spot. If you really want to fly in style, then splash out on one of the galaxy’s latest models: the irresistibly cool Elite Dangerous Mandalay.

Essential Elite Dangerous exploration modules

You’ve chosen your exploration ship, now let’s make sure it’s fit for the job. A ship’s weight determines its jump range, so you’ll want yours to be as light as possible. That not only entails choosing lightweight alloys, light shields, and small thrusters, but also stripping back non-essential systems; you might feel safer with seeker missile racks loaded onto every hardpoint, but they’ll only hamper your progress. Hunter hammers that point home: 

“Your guns? Forget they exist, mate! Your armour? Strip it to the bones! Your shield and thrusters? The same. Jump range is everything!”

There are only two Elite Dangerous exploration modules that are considered truly essential: 

A Frame Shift Drive (FSD)

FSDs determine how far your ship can jump, something you’ll be doing a lot of. As such Yan57436 describes them as “definitely the most important module”. They come in various shapes and sizes, and the rule of thumb is to equip the best that your budget and ship allows. Grade-A FSDs will give you the best jump range. 

A fuel scoop

You won’t run across stations out in the black, and the last thing you want is to run out of gas in a region of space no other human has ever set foot in. We’ll discuss refueling in more detail later in this guide, but in short, fuel scoops allow you to refuel on the go. As per the FSD, fit the greatest that your budget and ship allows. Grade-A scoops will provide the fastest scoop time. 

Here’s a few of our members making the point loud and clear:

“Fuel scoop! Fuel scoop! Fuel scoop! Never, ever embark on an exploration trip without the best scoop your ship can fit; the better the scoop, the faster you’ll refill.” - CelestialFlea

“Trust me, this thing will save your life out there much more often than life support.” - Hunter

“Save your best optional internal slot for the fuel scoop. Aim for the highest scoop rate you can get!” - XCezor

Additional exploration modules and equipment

Those are the bare essentials, and while you should always outfit with the guiding principle of reducing your ship’s mass, our community has suggested a range of other helpful modules and equipment: 

A Detailed Surface Scanner (DSS)

By far the most important and highly recommended ‘non-essential’ module is the DSS, which will ensure you optimise your exploration gains. Together with your integrated Discovery Scanner (D-Scanner) and Full Spectrum System Scanner (FSS), the DSS allows you to map the systems and astronomical bodies you visit. As MrT notes, “If you want to earn while you explore, outfit one.” XCezor provides more details: 

“To scan a planet and know what goods it has (geological sites with raw resources as well as exobiology plants), you need a proper scanner. When you scan a planet with it, you’ll gain credits for discovering it. The DSS, just like fuel scoop, counts as an optional internal. But unlike the fuel scoop, you’ll want to put it in the lowest possible slot, because it only has one grade: ‘1I’. There’s no reason to waste higher-quality slots.”

A heatsink launcher 

A heatsink launcher is a utility slot module that can temporarily cool your ship’s internals by transferring their heat into ejectable heatsinks. They’re most useful for when you get distracted and accidentally fly into a star, which, if you weren’t aware, tend to be rather warm. Four different community members recommend bringing at least one heatsink - here’s LiquidMorkite: 

“Dwarf stars can pull you out of supercruise. Booting it back up can boil your ship, so a heatsink or two can be very handy.”

Auto Field-Maintenance Units (AFMUs or AFMs)

We’ll discuss dwarf stars more later, as well as neutron stars. For now, all you need to know is that both can slowly damage your Frame Shift Drive’s (FSD’s) integrity. By bringing along at least one AFMU, you’ll be able to repair it. Some recommend bringing repair limpets as well, but most explorers stick with AMFUs. If you’re bringing ‘em, the bigger the better.  

A vehicle bay and Surface Recon Vehicle (SRV)

Aside from anything else, SRVs are fun; they let you drive on the planets you discover. Moreover, they’ll allow you to retrieve the requisite materials for refueling your AFMUs, building limpets, and potentially even gathering materials to give stranded explorers’ FSD a boost.

Set up a vehicle bay so that you can take an SRV with you. LiquidMorkite recommends the type-G hanger, which uses more power but is lighter than the type-H, adding: “Don’t forget to go to the SRV tab to actually buy the SRV!”

An Artemis Suit

This isn’t an exobiology guide, but seeing as exobiology is naturally paired with exploration, we’ll note that Elite Dangerous Odyssey explorers will want to bring an Artemis Suit too. It’s the only suit equipped with a genetic sampler tool, which is required for indexing organic specimens.

Exploration engineering

Engineering your ship is not essential, but if you want to take your exploration to the next level, it’s helpful. Once you’ve got the hang of exploration’s basics and have some credits to show for your troubles, upgrade your modules. The best place to start is your FSD, which can be engineered for a greater jump range. Other engineering recommendations include mass management and, for those landing on planets, shields. Matt G succinctly explains why: “most explorers who die do so from bad landings.”

Purpose-driven or winging it: the explorer’s choice

You now have everything you need to set a course. But before we get onto the meat of exploration gameplay, a quick philosophical hors d'oeuvre: should an explorer have a goal in mind or should they be led by winds and whimsy of the galaxy? According to CelestialFlea, explorers should be led by a north star (be it figurative or literal):

“Before you go anywhere, think about what you want to achieve. Do you want to travel to a certain nebula to go sightseeing? Maybe you want to collect data or you’re after new artifacts and anomalies? Whatever it is, no matter how small, have a goal. That will allow you to fit your ship accordingly; you don’t want to reach your destination to realise that you forgot your SRV or scanners.”

Matt G agrees: 

“It can be hard to find a reason to explore, at least at first. It’s helpful to set an objective, and I’d recommend looking at the Galactic Exploration Catalogue - a collection of fantastic things around the galaxy worth visiting.”   

But for others, like LiquidMorkite and Eralm_237, it’s the very lack of objective that gives exploration its wonder. They hop in their ships and choose a direction and just wait to see what wonders they find, or as Eralm puts it: “Throw a dart at the galaxy map and go there!” 

We’ll leave it to you to discover which camp you fall in. 

Elite Dangerous exploration guide part two: the journey

How to explore in Elite Dangerous

Step one: set a destination, plot a route, and jump!

Choose a new system - Stormseeker suggests one anywhere between 2,000 and 20,000 light years away - and plot a route to it on the galaxy map. When plotting your route, pay attention to the fuel scooping advice you'll read below, and don’t make the rookie error of overambition. Make your first trip a short one so you’re not lost in the black for months. Here’s AndyRice: 

“It can be isolating out there amid the lonely stars and cold planets. Start small by visiting points of interest not too far from the Bubble rather than flying straight to Beagle Point.”

Then take off and get jumping. You may want to team up with fellow commanders in an expedition, in which case check out the exploration tools and resources section below for more information.

Step two: honk, baby, honk! 

It’s at this stage that you’ll come to learn the difference between your Discovery Scanner (D-Scanner), Full Spectrum System Scanner (FSS), and Detailed Surface Scanner (DSS), each of which scan with greater levels of specificity. 

In every new system you pass through, use your most basic scanner - the discovery scanner - to get a basic layout of the system. This is known as ‘honking’. As TheHappyHans notes, for some explorers, a simple honk and scoop will do: 

“Fast system scanning is a cheap and easy way to get into exploration. After dropping into a system, you honk, then jump to the next system. This speedy process can be done while you fuel scoop and should be standard practice for any endeavouring explorer’s routine trips. No matter where you’re going, honk and scoop.”

Step three: full spectrum system scan, baby, full spectrum system scan!

Most explorers won’t want to stop there. Having honked and switched to Analysis Mode, activate your FSS to analyse the astronomical bodies in the system. Over to TheHappyHans: 

“Start up your FSS to see the emission spectra of all bodies in the system. Be aware that different types of bodies will have emissions in different parts of the spectrum and pay differently. A seasoned explorer will quickly recognise any high-value targets in the area.” 

Terraformable worlds, water worlds, ammonia worlds, metal-rich worlds, and Earth-like worlds are the most sought after; their discovery will quickly increase your Explorer rank. 

Step four: get up close and personal!

Compared to jumping, flying to your chosen body will take time, so only choose targets worthy of the detour. Once you’ve arrived, fire up your DSS to launch probes at the planet surface; scan it until 90% of the surface has been mapped. If no one other commander has mapped it before, you’ll have your name on that planet forever. 

TheHappyHans notes that while planet mapping pays out much more than discovery honking, the added fly time results in roughly the same pay per hour. CMDR Henckes points out that successfully scanning using a minimal number of probes will provide a bonus, and that you’ll improve your detailed surface scanning skills with practice.

If you’ve followed our advice and brought an SRV or Artemis Suit with you, now’s the time to land on a planet and marvel at its majesty. 

“You can explore these planets when they are landable, which can lead to fun adventures and extra money from data or materials found.” - Dydo

Whether from ship, foot, or SRV, don’t forget to stop every now to admire a view that no other has admired:

“Enjoy every corner of every system. It may seem that all the icy planets or all the rocky ones are the same, but each keeps its own secret, be sure of that.” - MQC

Step five: repeat!

Now you’ve got the basic exploration gameplay loop down, the galaxy is your oyster. Here’s Dydo: “From this point, you’re basically ready to explore the entire Milky Way. Try to find binary or tertiary systems, visit nebulae, and who knows, maybe even the farthest reaches of the universe.”

Of course, there are a few factors that will stop you going ad astra ad aeternum. The first of these is fuel.

Efficient exploration and refuelling 

Fuel scooping 

Elite Dangerous players love an acronym, and KGB FOAM is one of the most popular. It’s used to remember the classes of star with which you can refuel while out in the black. Using your fuel scoop, you’ll be able to refuel your ship via star classes K, G, B, F, O, A, and M - basically, any which aren’t dwarfs or neutrons. You can filter star classes on the galaxy map to discover them. Provided the module is active, fuel scooping is automatic. Just get close, albeit not too close, and wait until your tank is full. 

CelestialFlea gives an important piece of advice to heed when route planning: 

“Don’t trust the automatically generated routes. They might take you along a route in which you can’t find a star to refuel at. Be sure there’s a sufficient quantity dotted along your route.”

Neutron stars

While you might be alone in the abyss, you can still find friends in the stars themselves, or at least, frenemies in their remnants. By flying into the plasma tails of these post-supernova stars (not directly at the core!), with a fuel scoop and FSD equipped, you’ll be able to supercharge your jump speed by 300%, allowing for long-distance travel. Here’s CelestialFlea: 

“While they can be terrifying to encounter for the first time, neutron stars can be used to your advantage. Fly into one of their cones at a gentle angle for a massive boost to your FSD. This can damage your systems, so practice on neutron stars in and around the Bubble first. If you’re travelling further afield, I recommend checking out the Neutron Highway.”

We’ll explain the Neutron Highway in the Elite Dangerous exploration resources section below. But first a more troublesome frenemy:

White dwarfs

White dwarf stars can provide a 150% jump range boost, but whether you fly towards one intentionally or not, they might well spell fiery doom. LiquidMorkite advises caution: 

“I boost with white dwarfs sometimes, but whether you take the risk is up to you. It’s easier to get caught in the exclusion zone when you’re scooping the cone, and if that happens, it’ll be the end of your journey. They only save you one jump anyway, so approach with caution and pay attention to that orbit line when you get close. Just dip on the very tip of its tail.”

Remember those heatsinks we recommended bringing to prevent your ship turning into the vehicular equivalent of a freshly toasted Pop-Tart? If you drop out of supercruise in a white dwarf’s plasma beam, your ship's systems will quickly fail. Here’s CelestialFlea: 

“Sooner or later, you're going to fly straight into a large star and everything is going to be screaming at you with sparks flying everywhere and smoke filling your cabin. Having heatsinks can give you a valuable buffer necessary for escape.”

Even successful utilisation of a neutron star or dwarf star will wear away at your FSD’s integrity. It’s after successive damage to the FSD that Auto Field-Maintenance Units (AFMUs) become valuable. LiquidMorkite - who we’d like to thank for their excellent contributions to this guide - provides the numbers:  

“Boosting your FSD from a neutron or dwarf star takes 1% from your FSD’s maximum integrity. It will malfunction at 80%, so be sure to repair it before it reaches that point.”

Staying safe while exploring in Elite Dangerous

You’re unlikely to run into a marauding band of pirates in uncharted space, and following humanity’s victory against the Thargoid Titan Cocijo, you no longer need to worry about landing in a Titan nest in an unarmed vessel. That said, the perils of exploration aren’t limited to white dwarfs and neutron stars. Eralm_237 gives the concise albeit not easily actionable advice: “Do not blow up.” AndyRice has provided advice for dealing with two more dangers of the “unforgiving universe”:

High-gravity planets

“It's always exciting to land on planets, but those with high gravity can be extremely dangerous. When you finish the glide phase and approach the surface, you might find that despite your efforts to reduce speed, your ship is still plummeting towards the ground. This is because the force generated by your bottom thrusters is too weak to counter the gravity. In this situation, you need to point your ship's main thrusters - which provide much more force than the maneuvering thrusters - at the ground and boost to reduce the sink rate. What’s more, don't deploy your landing gear too early, as doing so will reduce the output power of your thrusters.”

Close-proximity stars

“Sometimes, you'll encounter binary, triple, or even more stars close together. The view is spectacular, but sometimes you'll drop out of a hyper jump right between them. The heat from both stars is extreme and can overheat your ship in seconds. If you find yourself between two stars, leave this ‘hot zone’ immediately and use heatsinks if necessary.”

Elite Dangerous exploration guide part three: homeward bound

Handing in your findings

That takes us to the final part of our guide and the final part of your journey: getting back to civilisation and turning in your discovery data. It’s the simplest part; you just need to return from deep space to Colonia, Explorer’s Anchorage, or the Bubble, dock in a station, and sell your findings to the nearest Universal Cartographics (UniCarti for short), which will increase your Explorer rank, as well as Vista Genomics if you have exobiology samples. 

Elite what now? It’s a good idea to sell your data sooner rather than later, otherwise you risk losing it. The greatest perils are often closest to home. Over to Evoflash:

“Once you've filled your boots with exploration data and the space madness is starting to creep in, head home. But be warned: if your ship is destroyed en route, you’ll lose the exploration data without the possibility of recovering it (remind me...what's this game called?). Tread carefully on the way to sell your data, play in Solo mode to avoid human pirates, and land cautiously. In extreme cases call the Hull Seals if you're dangerously close to destruction."

Writing your name in the stars

Exploring strange new worlds is about the glory as much as the cash and thrill. We’ll pass the mic back to Evoflash for a great explanation of why this is:

“A delightful perk of exploration is that if you’re the first person to sell that data, then UniCarti will put your name on that system's information page forevermore as the First Discoverer for all the galaxy to see. You can also map the bodies in the system and claim the First Mapped By accolade. There's also the First Footfall accolade, but that doesn't require UniCarti involvement - you will have already acquired that by landing and setting foot on the surface.

“I can hear you now: ‘Let me go get my name in lights!’ Well hold on there, partner, not so fast! Elite Dangerous has been around for a decade, so many of the nearby systems have been discovered already. If you want that lovely warm feeling of being a first discoverer, strap up your boots, because the chances are you'll need to get at least 1,000 light years away from Sol to start seeing uncharted systems regularly. You should also consider getting off the galactic plane, i.e., move up or down on the galaxy map by at least 200 light years. Things thin out, but so do the number of commanders.”

Sharing your tales

NPCs aren’t the only ones who’ll want to hear about your findings! No doubt you’ll have been impressed by the sights of the galaxy and you’ll have taken lots of screenshots. Now it’s time to show them to the world. Back to Evoflash: 

“I wish I’d taken more photos and notes of my early discoveries. Now I use a spreadsheet with several tabs, but I’m probably not normal. Be sure to post your photos on your favourite social media outlet, Just About included! The community feedback is one of the most satisfying parts of the experience, so don’t miss out!”

Elite Dangerous exploration tips

We’re almost at the end of this comprehensive guide, and we’d like to share some top tips straight from the community, which don’t neatly fall into any of the previous subheadings:

“Above the search for credits, be sure to enjoy yourself! Make short jumps and appreciate every system. Almost all of them will have a surprise in store for you. Once you’ve experienced the true freedom of exploration, then you can consider longer objective-driven journeys in more specialised ships.” - MQC

“Bring a great playlist. Whenever I explore, mine, or trade, I tend to turn off the in-game music and put on some of my own. At the right volume, it’ll feel like it’s coming from your ship’s radio. Here’s something I’ve been listening to:

“Also, don’t think about efficiency. Exploration is not about space racing or speedrunning. Two straight hours of jumping and fuel running is only the fastest route to burnout. Take your time, enjoy the ride.” - LiquidMorkite

“Consider buying third-person voice recognition software like VoiceAttack to automate your ship functions. It’ll feel like your AI is HAL.” - Illysol

“If you have free time and an adventurous heart, then just go for it! You’ll make mistakes, you’ll lose a painful amount of data, and you’ll waste shocking amounts of time, but nothing teaches as well as failure. It may be an odd take, but I want to learn about the game the same way that I learn about the galaxy: boldly, and with the potential for lethal errors.” - DitchAdder 

“If you’ve been playing for a while, bring a fleet carrier with you. I bring mine with me and it’s fantastic. I can dock when I want, submit my findings, repair my ship, and replenish my stock. It’s very handy if I accidentally destroy my SRV. Plus, I can switch ships and activities at any time!” - MrT

“I find the best way to enjoy exploration is to look for outliers: really small moons, rings over 1ly in radius or really close orbits. Ultimately, you’ll discover your own motivations to explore.” - Slamscape

Elite Dangerous exploration tools and further resources

Need some more help with your exploration? You’ll find anything else you need to know in the resources below. And if you don’t, let us know in the comments! 

The Fuel Rats - If all our fuel-efficiency advice fails you and you find yourself stranded, who you gonna call? These guys and gals, the true heroes of the galaxy. Just visit their website, hit ‘Get Fuel’, and all the rest will be explained.

The Hull Seals - Low on hull? In 2019, fellow rescuers the Hull Seals launched their own club. Although that’s probably not the right turn of phrase.

Elite Dangerous guides and creators - a community-produced resource, including exploration specialists.

Galactic Exploration Catalogue - the aforementioned “collection of fantastic things”, Matt G notes that some of those fantastic things “are even in the Inner Orion Spur, so you won’t need to go far to find something cool”.

The Neutron Highway - a charted network of routes optimised for their high percentage of neutron stars and white dwarfs.

EDSM - what started as a star map has transformed into the number one exploration hub. It’s a great place to find recommended ED points of interest and organised ED expeditions run by players looking to explore the galaxy together.

ED-Discovery - a popular third-party tool for plotting and tracking routes.

ED Observatory - a third-party tool that reads your in-game journal to highlight and categorise phenomena worthy of a closer look.

Closing thoughts from the Just About Elite Dangerous community

Congratulations, you’ve made it to the end of this comprehensive Elite Dangerous exploration guide; dare we say it: one of the most exhaustive on the internet. We’ll leave you with some final words from the community members who’ve brought you this expertise: 

“Don’t forget: the greatest reward for explorers isn’t the haul of credits, but the wonders you’ll find in unknown space. Take loads of screenshots, register where they are, and share them with the community. We love to see other players making great discoveries!” - CMDR Henckes

“Above all else, have fun! Take the time to investigate the weird blobby planet or those crazy rings. Look up the legend of Raxxla and investigate any eighth moons you see!” - Evoflash

“Just remember to land, deploy your SRV, and take in the view every now and then. The universe is truly a spectacular place when viewed up close. Good travels and happy hunting, Commander! Welcome to the explorers’ guild!” - TheHappyHans

“Look to the fans as a base for your explorations; remember that our community never leaves others without help!” - Yan57436

“O7 to all you new CMDRs, I hope to see your name on a sun someday!” - Ilyssoll

“Now you’re ready and nothing will stop you.” - Hunter

For a look at some of the amazing planets you’ll come across, get lost in these Elite Dangerous screenshots of planets seen from space. Alternatively, check out this article’s sister guide on Elite Dangerous mining for another in-depth career walkthrough. 

Some text has been edited for brevity, clarity, or spelling, punctuation, and grammar. You can find the original wording here. Image credit: Evoflash, as seen in our planetary showcase of Elite Dangerous screenshots.