EXO Dynamics Research Aid

The EXO Dynamics Research Aid is a container, found in caves or on the planet's surface, that opens after a certain criteria is met. The icon shown on the sides of the container tells the player what is needed to open it.

Criteria
The criteria to open a Research Aid is shown as an icon on the sides of the container. Research Aids marked with power symbols need a specific number of Units for power bars to be filled, either sustained for a few seconds to fill the power bars or a total amount of power needed at once. Research Aids marked with resource symbols require the proper resource be placed in the slot. This resource can be any raw, refined, composite or a full atmospheric resource. The resource required per planet varies by layer, with harder to obtain resources being required deeper down the planet.

The reward for opening a container is either a Research Item or a Research Sample, worth a large chunk of bytes.

Trivia

 * Pre-1.0 Resource Drop Pods existed on the surface of Terran that would contain a couple resources for the player. They were removed, and Research Aids took their place with a similar functionality, but they give research items instead.