There’s more than one way to make good money in Starfield; you don’t have to complete endless missions or bounties, and you don’t have to commit to the grind of finding and selling loot either.
Instead, Starfield allows you to do almost anything, and that can include life as a simple freelance scanning technician.
There are over 1,000 celestial bodies you can scan in Starfield, between moons, planets, and other objects. These scans produce survey data that you can then sell to interested parties. But who is interested in buying it, and who will give you the best price?
If the simple life of a scanner is what you crave, then you should at least get the most value out of your time spent.
How to scan and collect survey data in Starfield
Scanning planets and collecting survey data is a two-part process, but one of those parts you can skip depending on the planet. Survey data consists of a planetary scan from orbit, plus individual scans of all the flora (plants) and fauna (animals). Once all the data is gathered, it forms a survey data disk in your inventory.
To collect survey data:
- Set a course for the planet you want to survey, then travel there.
- Once you arrive in orbit, equip your scanner, select the planet, and open the planet map.
- Select the Scan Planet option.
- If the planet you are surveying is a gas giant, or any other inhospitable planet with no resources, flora, or fauna, then you are done.
- After gathering the planetary scan data, you will need to land on the planet to collect more data.
How to fully create survey data in Starfield
To complete a surface-level survey of a planet, you must collect data on all of the planet’s flora, fauna, resources, and traits (if they have any).
- To collect information on each flora and fauna, you must scan several of each species in order to get a full 100 percent scan.
- To collect resource information, you only need to scan one resource each.
- To collect planetary trait information, head toward one of the unknown landmarks on your scanner. You will need to find an unexplored geographical or biological feature and scan it, such as the Corraline Mineral Pools on Gagarin.
You should absolutely spend a skill point on Surveying to increase the range of your scanner from 10 meters to 20 meters so you don’t have to get as close to some of the more hostile fauna on the surface.
Where to sell survey data in Starfield
Once you have collected survey data, it’s time to sell it. While there are likely other sources you can sell survey data to that haven’t been discovered yet, the most you’ll get from selling survey data is when you sell it to Vladimir. Trade Authority kiosks will also take survey data, but not at the same rate as Vladimir.
Vladimir Sall is a member of Constellation, who is stationed on the star station known as The Eye.
- You will get to meet Vladimir as part of the main story questline. Specifically, you will be tasked with meeting Vladimir as part of the Into the Unknown quest.
- The Eye is in the Alpha Centauri system, orbiting the planet Jemison. Travel to the Eye, approach the station, and dock with it.
- Once inside, follow the quest markers to the central area and meet Vladimir. After introductions, you can select the “I’ve got some Survey Data for you” dialogue option.
- This will open a custom buy/sell menu that exclusively lets you sell survey data. Select each piece of data and click Sell.
You can come back to Vladimir on The Eye whenever you gather more data.
