Look, we've all been there. You’re standing on some scorched, radioactive rock in No Man's Sky, staring at a half-finished technology upgrade, and you realize you’re short on phosphorus. It is one of those mid-tier minerals that feels abundant until the exact moment you actually need it for a Thermal Layer or a high-end crafting recipe like Iridesite.
Then, suddenly, every planet looks like a barren wasteland of dust and disappointment.
Phosphorus isn't just a "hot planet" resource. It’s a bottleneck. If you're trying to scale up your farming or push into high-tier economy looping, you need a reliable flow of this stuff. You can’t just rely on punching rocks with a mining laser forever.
Where Phosphorus Actually Hides
Basically, if the planet is hot, it probably has phosphorus. But "hot" is a broad category in the No Man's Sky procedural engine. You are looking for Solanium-rich worlds. If you see "Solanium" in the scan results from space, you’ve found a phosphorus goldmine. These are the scorched, charred, or "boiling" planets.
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Don't just land anywhere. Use your starship scanner while flying over the surface. You're looking for those resource deposits that pop up with a diamond icon. On hot worlds, these are almost always phosphorus. But honestly? Mining deposits is the slow way. It’s the "I just started a new save" way. If you’re past the first five hours of the game, you should be looking for better methods.
The Organic Shortcut
Plants. Specifically, the flora on these toasted planets often contains phosphorus as a secondary element. If you upgrade your Analysis Visor with some decent S-class modules, you can get a few hundred units of phosphorus just by scanning and then vaporizing a patch of weird-looking shrubs. It’s faster than dragging the Terrain Manipulator across a mineral vein and leaves you with less inventory clutter.
Refiner Recipes: The Real Pro Move
If you hate wandering around in 150-degree heat, the refiner is your best friend. Most players forget that No Man's Sky is basically a chemistry set disguised as a space sim.
You can literally create phosphorus out of thin air if you have the right ingredients.
One of the most efficient loops involves Dioxite and Ferrite Dust. Wait, no—scratch that. The most common way people "make" it is by combining Solanium and Salt. It’s a 2:1 ratio. If you have a Solanium farm going, you basically have infinite phosphorus.
Here is a weird one that actually works: Dioxite + Ferrite Dust actually yields Phosphorus in some versions of the refiner logic, but the gold standard is Solanium + Salt. If you’re really desperate, you can also use Gamma Root + Uranium, but that’s like using a Ferrari to deliver mail. It's overkill and inefficient.
The Gas Expansion
If you have a gas extractor, grab some Sulphurine. If you combine Sulphurine with Condensed Carbon, you get Phosphorus. This is how the big-league players fuel their crafting empires. They don't land on planets to mine; they just teleport between gas extractors and carbon planters, then dump everything into a Large Refiner while they go make a sandwich.
Buying Your Way Out of the Grind
Honestly? Just buy it.
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If you have a decent amount of Units, hunting for phosphorus is a waste of time. Not every Space Station sells it, though. You have to look for the "Wealthy" or "Opulent" economies. Even then, it’s a bit of a gamble.
The real trick is the NPCs.
Land in a Space Station or a Trading Post on a hot system. Wait for the pilots to land. Check their ship inventories. Pilots often carry stacks of 500 to 1,000 phosphorus. If you see a pilot selling it, buy their whole stock. Then wait for the next ship. It’s usually the same inventory pool for most pilots in that specific system. You can fill a Hauler’s belly with phosphorus in ten minutes this way.
Why You Actually Need This Stuff
Why are we even talking about this? Because Phosphorus is the backbone of the "Hot" tech tree.
- Thermal Protection: If you want to survive on extreme heat planets without recharging your suit every thirty seconds, you need the Heat Shield upgrades. They eat phosphorus for breakfast.
- Exocraft Upgrades: Your Nomad or Roamer needs it for specific engine tunings.
- High-Level Crafting: This is the big one. If you want to make Iridesite (which you need for Fusion Ignitors or Stasis Devices worth 15 million units each), you need Aronium and Magno-Gold. Guess what Aronium is made of? Primarily Paraffinium, but Phosphorus is a common substitute or refined byproduct in that chain.
The Automated Extraction Setup
If you’re tired of the hustle, set up a permanent base. Find a planet with phosphorus deposits and use the Survey Device (an upgrade for your Multitool) to find a Phosphorus "Hotspot."
Don't settle for a C-class hotspot.
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Fly around until you find at least a B or an A. Slap down three or four Mineral Extractors, power them with Solar Panels and Batteries (or an Electromagnetic Generator if you’re lucky enough to find a power hotspot nearby), and connect them to a bunch of Supply Depots.
Now, every time you log in, you’ll have 10,000 phosphorus waiting for you in a neat little metal box. No mining, no refining, no dealing with annoying Sentinels. Just pure, automated efficiency.
Common Misconceptions
People think phosphorus is rare because they keep looking for it on "Lush" planets. It doesn't live there. It’s a specialized mineral. Also, don't confuse it with Pyrite. Pyrite is for your pulse engine and is found on desert worlds. Phosphorus is for your tech and is found on burnt worlds. They look similar in the inventory, and I’ve definitely spent twenty minutes mining the wrong one because I wasn't paying attention.
Also, the "Large Refiner" isn't always better. For simple Phosphorus expansion, a Medium Refiner does the job without consuming fuel, saving you the headache of constantly shoving Carbon into the slots.
Your Next Steps in the Galaxy
Stop hand-mining. Seriously.
If you're in the mid-game, your first move should be to fly to a Scorched system and check the Space Station terminal. If they don't sell phosphorus, stand on the landing pads and harass the pilots.
Once you have a healthy stack, go build a small outpost on a planet with Solanium. Plant some Solanium seeds. Within a few hours of growth, you can harvest the plants, toss them in a refiner with some Salt (which is everywhere underwater), and you'll never have to go "phosphorus hunting" ever again.
Check your Analysis Visor modules too. If they don't have a "Resource Yield" bonus, you're leaving money on the table. A good visor setup can triple the amount of phosphorus you get from a single plant or rock. Get that sorted, and then get back to the real goal: reaching the center of the galaxy or building that base that looks like a giant duck. Whatever your vibe is.