No Man’s Skyis an open-world space adventure where players can fly spaceships, travel through galaxies, fight pirates, and more. While they do this, they have many opportunities to earn money to upgrade their tools and weapons or buy resources. There are two currencies in the game: Units and Nanites.
Nanites are the rarer of the two and can be used to purchase special items like blueprints and upgrade modules for the Exosuit, Exocraft, and Multi-Tool. Collecting Nanites takes some time since players can’t get them from anywhere, but enjoying the best equipment is well worth it. Here aresome ways players can earn Nanites inNo Man’s Sky.
Updated on Jul 23, 2025, by Gerardo Molina:No Man’s Sky is one of the most complete and complex games of the last 15 years, as it features several procedurally generated planets and tons of possibilities for players to stay, entertain and explore. Throughout the game, players will come across various consumables that they can use for many purposes, and one of the most valuable are Nanites, which can often be hard to come by.Luckily, there are many different ways in which players can gain access to this consumable and use it for their various purposes. Whether it is by completing missions or exploring the vastness of space.
12Farm Chewy Wires
This Consumable Can Be More Valuable Than It Seems
Chewy Wireis a consumable inNo Man’s Skyand also a raw ingredient. It goes for around 3,200 Units and can be used for many purposes. It can be sourced by gathering from robotic creatures, such as Structurae and Mechanoceris, when they’ve been fed Ion batteries.
This ingredient can also be used for cooking in a Nutrient Processor. Some of the things that can be obtained from this are:
Chewy Wires provide a 20% Energy Boost and also reward players with 5–10 Nanites when consumed. To farm this valuable component, players will be required to build a base and locate a planet with synthetic life forms. A great place to find these is in blue Uncharted Systems. Here’s a step-by-step process:
Every 20 minutes of clicking will give players around 9,000 Nanites, which is a considerable amount and can be of great use for various purposes.
11Complete Nexus Missions
They Offer Various Rewards, Including Nanites
Although those who playNo Man’s Skysolo also have a very rewarding experience, being able to collaborate with others throughThe Nexusis a most welcome addition to the game. It can be found inside the Space Anomaly and allows players to take on various missions that are, in most cases, both entertaining and very profitable. The Nexus allows for up to 8 players on console and up to 32 on PC to share the same multiplayer instance.
The Nexus offers many missions and, typically, the rewards for completing them include products, Units, Nanites, and Quicksilver, all of which are quite valuable. The notices on the Nexus boards are usually updated every 10 minutes, so if there are any missions that players don’t feel like doing, they simply have to wait a little while and return later. The good part about Nexus missions is that they don’t require more than one player to be completed. So players who like to take care of things on their own or don’t have friends to collaborate with at a specific time can still get the valuable rewards that the missions have to offer. Those looking for Quicksilver will want to keep an eye out for Quicksilver Missions, which reward players with 400 Quicksilver once a day.
10Refine Residual Goop
Goop Is Space’s Gold
InNo Man’s Sky,Residual Goopis described as a “pulsating, foul-smelling goop that builds up in poorly-maintained machinery”. And while that might trick players into thinking that the substance is worthless, it can actually be used to get Nanites. Now, this sounds easier than it actually is, as the Residual Goop must be processed several times before it can be turned into Nanites.
First, Residual Goop will be refined into Viscous Fluids, then into Living Smile, then, into Runaway Mould, and finally, into precious Nanites. Players can expect the Goop-to-Nanite ratio to be 5:1. Certainly not a swift process, but it’s well worth it.
9Explore And Complete Derelict Freighters
A Bit Time-Consuming, But Well Worth It
As established before, space inNo Man’s Skyis a nearly-infinite region with millions upon millions of possibilities. This means that, while exploring the Cosmos, players will likely run intoDerelict Freightersmore than a few times.
While the idea of exploring an abandoned ship in the middle of space is freightening (pun intended), it’s well worth the risk, as exploring abandoned freighters and completing them (as in discovering what happened to the crew) will more often than not yield valuable rewards, including the precious Nanites that everyNo Man’s Skyplayer passionately seeks and cherishes.
8Refine Larval Cores
Larval Cores Refine to 50 Nanites Each
Players will find unique plants, animals, and more as they explore planets. Sometimes, they encounter rare phenomena and can collect special resources such as Larval Cores. Larval Cores are a Monstrous curiosity that drops when players destroy a Whispering Egg. Whispering Eggs are a rare spawn that appears near abandoned buildings or on invested planets. The Analysis Visor can be used to track them down.
Once players destroy a Whispering Egg, they can pick up its Larval Core. Destroying the Egg also triggers a swarm of Biological Horrors that will attack on sight. Players can fight them or run from them until the swarm subsides. Larval Cores can be transformed into Nanites using a Refiner. Collecting them is quite a lot of work, but it is a good way to get some Nanites if all else fails.
7Salvage Starships
Starship Parts are Worth 30 to 1,300 Nanites
Starships are flying space vehicles and a crucial part of No Man’s Sky. Players start the game with a standard Starship, but they can also collect crashed Starships to repair and replace theirs with or scrap them and trade their parts for Nanites. Crashed Starships spawn randomly on planets and can be found in a few ways. Players can search the surface of a planet using an Exocraft or locate a crashed Starship more directly with a Transmission Tower or Planetary Charts.
Before players can turn a crashed Starship in for scrap, they must repair the damaged parts. Specifically, the Launch Thruster and the Pulse Engine are required for them to get into the air. Players can then fly the repaired Starship to a Space Station and salvage it at a Starship Outfitting Terminal in exchange for Nanites. Higher-tiered Starships are worth more Nanites, so players can earn them in bulk.
Every Discovery is Worth Different Amounts of Nanite Clusters
The quickest way to get Nanites is to upload all discoveries found on planets. Players can scan plants, minerals, and animals when they contact a new planet. Scanning only takes a few moments, but be wary ofany hostile animals. The scanner is one of the visor settings, and players can access it easily. Once the subject is scanned, it will be saved as a discovery, and players will get some units depending on how common or rare it is.
If they want Nanites, players can upload them by following the below steps:
This will deposit Nanites; the more discoveries there are to upload, the more Nanites players earn.
5Explore Buildings
Search Technology Inside Buildings for Nanite Clusters
Nanite Clusters can also be found in buildingssuch as Resource Depots, bunk buildings, and abandoned facilities. These are found on most planets, but looking at hospitable ones yields better results.
Players can scan for points of interest from the ground or sky once they enter a planet’s atmosphere. Abandoned facilities are the safest to search since Sentinels are less likely to appear. However, there are more likely to be Nanites inside Resource Depots and Outposts. Players can pick them up by downloading them from electronic systems inside the buildings.
4Destroy Sentinels
Sentinels Drop Nanites and Materials for Nanites
Sentinels are drone beingsthat police many planets in the game. Planets that have them can be hostile or neutral depending on the galaxy but will attack players if they are perceived as a threat regardless. Whenever a Sentinel is taken down, there’s a chance it will drop Nanites. They may also drop items like a Hyaline Brain, which can be refined into 260 Nanites.
Players can attack Sentinels by shooting at them using their Exocraft or a ranged weapon. They are relatively easy to take out, but attacking one always calls in reinforcements. If players hide inside buildings until the Sentinels no longer sense them, they can take them out one by one and pick up their drops.
3Completing Missions
Nanite Rewards Vary from Mission to Mission
Some missions will have Nanites as a reward upon completion. Missions can be picked up at any Space Station from the mission attendant. Space Stations aren’t typically that big, so finding the correct booth should be easy. The mission details, including the completion requirements and rewards, are listed.
Players can pick up as many missions at one time as they want. Missions fall into a few categories: Courier, Battle, Wildlife, and Photography. The higher level they are with the alien lifeforms who suggested,the more missions will be available. Players can keep track of their missions and turn them at a Space Station when they’re done, and they will get their Nanites.
