Research Items

are big colored spheroids, cuboids or blobs that can be found in Astroneer. They can be picked up by the player and stored on any two-slot connection (not including Backpack or Storage, as these have one-slot connections only) and are used by the Research Station to unlock schematics and resources. There are different types of Artifacts, each with a set of different variations.

Variants
Hostile Flora Artifacts only have two different variations. They are spherical with spines on the top of it with a red and green variant. As the name suggests, they are only found near hostile flora.

Location
The Hostile Flora type of Artifact can be found under Exploders and Pumpkins. Deforming terrain with the Deform Tool underneath either Exploders or Pumpkins will reveal either one of the above listed Artifacts. Once unearthed adequately, the Artifacts can be taken removed from the underside of the organism.

Variants
Space Debris Artifacts all resemble player-constructible objects in Astroneer. They are white and/or blue with a darker finish on the lining of the container.

Location
Space Debris Artifacts can be found by any Space Debris-type Discoveries.

Variants
Generic Artifacts have a large amount of variants. They can appear as cuboids, as strange fruits, as oddly shaped rocks with crystals, and more, all with different colour variations.

Location
Generic Artifacts can be found almost anywhere. On and under Passive Flora, at the end of winding caves, on the floor of large caverns and attached to non-Space Debris Discoveries.