Rare Resources
Rare Resources are materials that cannot be found naturally on the asteroid and are instead brought back from space, from other asteroids, planets and other destinations.
To return with Rare Materials, a Rocket with Research Modules has to reveal a ??? before it can be collected with a solid Cargo Bay. Each time research objective marked with (!!) is researched, one ??? is revealed. Reveal and cargo return can happen on the same launch, as long as the cargo bays are placed below the research modules.
There is a chance for a ??? to be Abyssalite instead of a rare resource.
The percentage of compositions vary greatly, while Rare Resources are found in much less quantity than those elements which are normally found on a destination.
Current Rare Resources in the game:
The acquisition of Rare Resources marks the transition to the late game, since it allows constructing Buildings that can be used in extreme temperatures, which itself allows liquefying Hydrogen and Oxygen for advanced Rocketry, Petroleum Boilers without Volcanoes, and Sour Gas condensers.
Spaced Out!
In Spaced Out!, production of rare resources has changed significantly. Most space POIs do not produce rare resources; instead, they must be made from materials found on specific outer asteroids.
- Fullerene is created at the Molecular Forge from Graphite, which can be found on the Water Asteroid. It can be obtained renewably from the Gilded Asteroid Field, the only space POI which provides rare resources.
- Niobium can be found in small veins on the Superconductive Asteroid, which also contains a renewable Metal Volcano.
- Isoresin is produced by boiling Liquid Resin, which is obtained from supplying food to Experiment 52B, found on the Marshy Asteroid.