Astroneer — Supply Chain Planner

Rare resources

Get Astronium and EXO Chips

Find EXO Caches first. They give you the chips you need to build a Trade Platform and Auto Extractor. You can then mine lots of Astronium and trade it for more useful items.

1 · Find cachesUse your Compass and search open ground.

2 · Open themPut several caches in a shallow hole and use one Dynamite.

3 · Build machinesSave your first chips for a Trade Platform and Auto Extractor.

4 · Mine AstroniumSet up an extractor near the core, then trade what it mines.

Keep your first EXO Chips. You can shred one chip for 3 Scrap, but early chips are much more useful for building machines. Only shred chips when you have more than you need.

Astronium

Find and mine Astronium

You can find Astronium near the core of every planet. Look for bright deposits that fade from green to pink. Check the ceiling and walls as well as the floor.

Make a safe way down. Take oxygen, power and a Beacon. Build a ramp or rail line so you can get home again.
Check the deposit. Point your terrain tool at it to make sure it is Astronium. Move the extractor until its green bars show a good amount.
Give it enough power. The extractor needs 8 U/s. At full power, it makes one nugget every 55.5 seconds. It gets about 15 times more than mining by hand.
Add storage. Put Medium Storage or a Medium Resource Canister on top. Use an Auto Arm if you want to fill a Large Resource Canister.
Mark the site. Extractors do not show on the Compass. Add a Beacon and return when the green bars get low.

15×more than mining by hand

8 U/spower needed

55.5 sto make 1 nugget

EXO Caches

Find and open EXO Caches

You can find caches on every planet. Most are underground, but some are on the surface. Open your Compass often. A nearby cache appears as a green icon. The icon may disappear when the cache is far above or below you.

Start on Desolo. Its flat, open ground makes caches easier to see. Search the smooth grey ground above the yellow pits.
Check below ground. Search the right surface area first, then check the caves below it. The Compass only finds caches within a limited height.
Save Dynamite. Carry caches on a Large Rover or use Packagers. Put several caches in a shallow hole and open them all with one Dynamite. The hole helps stop items flying away.
Pick up every item. Each cache gives 1 to 3 EXO Chips and 5 pieces of debris. Shred the debris for Scrap. You cannot shred an unopened cache.
You can use other explosions. Dangerous plants can open caches on some planets. Move your Astroneer and vehicles away before anything explodes.

1–3EXO Chips from each cache

5pieces of debris to shred

Greenicon on the Compass

Surface locations

Where to look for caches

You can find caches underground on every planet. Search these places to find them on the surface:

SylvaLatin: forest
Inside forests and around their edges

DesoloLatin echo: left alone
Smooth grey ground above yellow pits; the easiest place to search

CalidorLatin echo: warm or hot
At the bottom of mountains and small hills

VesaniaLatin echo: madness
Near thin trees on medium-height ground; avoid thick-tree hills

NovusLatin: new
Near thin trees on medium-height ground

GlacioLatin echo: ice or freezing
Large, high glacier plains with scattered boulders

AtroxLatin: savage or cruel
Rarely near glowing trees on flatter ground

The official wiki confirms the meanings of Sylva and Atrox. The other names closely match Latin words, but System Era has not published an official name guide.

Trade Platform

What to get with Astronium

Get EXO ChipsTrade 3 Astronium for 1 chip

Make Scrap with Jump JetsTrade 1 Astronium for 2 Jump Jets, then shred them for 3 Scrap

Get DynamiteTrade 3 Astronium for 4 Dynamite

Get HydrazineTrade 3 Astronium for 4 Hydrazine

Get PackagersTrade 1 Astronium for 4 Packagers

Get the chips, Dynamite and Packagers you need first. Turn Astronium into Scrap when your mining setup is working well and you have spare Astronium.

Sources and updates

Check the game facts

[1] Official Astroneer Wiki · Astronium — where to find it and what you can get for it.

[2] Official Astroneer Wiki · EXO Cache — where to look, how to open caches and what is inside.

[3] Official Astroneer Wiki · Auto Extractor — power, speed and storage.

[4] Official Astroneer Wiki · Trade Platform — what each trade gives you.

[5] Official Astroneer Wiki · Scrap — how much Scrap you get from items.

Game updates can change trade amounts and cache locations. We checked these sources in August 2026. Check the linked wiki pages if a future update changes the game.