As of theOrbitalupdate,No Man’s Skyplayers can finally create their own custom ships. Travelers have long requested this feature, but after many years, Hello Games has finally released a means of creating new ships from custom parts.

The process of creating a custom ship is fairly simple. First, you’ll need to salvage components from existing ships. Second, you must purchase a reactor core from the ship technology merchant. And finally, you’ll head to the Starship Fabricator to create a brand-new ship. You’ll even be able to give it a custom paint job in matte or metallic colors.

No Man’s Sky Starship Outfitting Kiosk.

Updated June 17, 2025, by Sean Murray:No Man’s Sky continues to evolve, and with it comes new options for custom ship construction. We’ve updated this guide to include information on custom Solar Ships as of the Worlds Part 1 update, and the Iron Vulture unique Hauler.

How To Salvage Customization Modules

The first step to creating your custom starship is salvaging customization modules from an existing ship. You canobtain ships for salvagingin one of two ways. You can eitherpurchase the ship from other entitiesaboard space stations, freighters, or trading posts, or your freighter, or you canfind crashed shipson planetary surfaces.

This process will destroy the ship you are salvaging. Only salvage parts from a ship you’re okay with losing forever.

No Man’s Sky Starship Outfitting Kiosk asking what component the player should salvage.

Once you’ve obtained a ship,head to the nearest space stationand seek out theStarship Outfitting terminalat the back near the station core. The Outfitting terminal is where you previously upgraded ships using nanites or scrapped them for credits. Now you may perform a ‘salvage analysis’ to determine what customization modules can be extracted.

At the Starship Outfitting terminal, select ‘begin salvage analysis.’ If the ship can be salvaged for parts, you will be presented with three options to salvage the ship. The salvageable parts depend on the ship type, Fighter, Explorer, or Hauler.Only one customization module can be salvagedfrom each ship.

No Man’s Sky Ship Technology Merchant showing available Reactor Cores and other upgrades.

Only Fighters, Explorers, Haulers, and Solar Ships can be salvagedas of the time of writing. Shuttles,Exotics,Sentinel Interceptors, andLiving Shipscannot be salvaged for customization modules.

Of the Expedition Reward ships, only the Iron Vulture can be salvaged for parts. The Starborn Runner and Utopia Speeder do not have distinct parts that can be salvaged.While you can salvage the Iron Vulture,you’ll only receive one of its three unique modules.

No Man’s Sky Design New Starship Assembly kiosk showing paint colors.

You’ll need at least one of each type of customization modulefor your desired type to create a custom ship. The required customization modules for each type are listed below.

Solar Sail

Fuselage

The fastest way to get ship componentsis towait on a space stationfor ships to land and thenpurchase those shipsfrom their pilots. The ship’s class (C, B, A, or S) doesn’t affect the salvaging process, so be sure topurchase C-class ships to save on credits.

Purchase A Reactor Core

Every custom ship requires a reactor core, which determines the ship’s class (C, B, A, or S class). The reactor core can bepurchased for nanites from a space station’s ship technology merchant.

Thenanites required for each classof reactor core are listed below:

You candecrease the number of nanites required by increasing your standingwith the faction you’re purchasing the nanites from. For example, the more standing you have with the Gek, the fewer nanites will be required to purchase a reactor core.

Once you have purchased a reactor core and salvaged the required customization modules,it is time to create your custom ship.

How To Create A Custom Ship At The Starship Fabricator

TheStarship Fabricatorcan be found beside the Starship Outfitting terminalat the back of the space station. Interact with the Fabricator terminal to begin the customization process.

To create your custom ship,select the type you’d like to create(Fighter, Explorer, Hauler, or Solar Ship). Then,select the three customization modulesyou’d like to use in creating your custom shipand the reactor core. Once the four items have been selected, the Starship Fabricator will allow you tocustomize the ship’s colors(in either matte or metallic finish).

Customization modules are single-use. Once used to create a new ship, they will be removed from your inventory and cannot be used again. You will have to salvage a new ship with the same components to obtain a new customization module.

Once you have selected both your desired colors and customization modules,hit the ‘assembly’ button to finalize your custom ship. Once complete, board your new custom ship where it stands on the Starship Fabricator, and fly it out of the space station.