If you are trying the new update on No Man’s Sky chances are you come across this new thing called Tractor Beam. Do not confuse this with the old docking tractor beam that auto-pulls your ship in when you land at a station or freighter. This guide is about that new one, what it does, how to use it and the best place to install it.
In This Guide:
What Is the New Tractor Beam?
The Tractor Beam is a hull attachment for your Corvette (the mid-size ship class added last year). It’s built to collect physical salvage and minerals from the new deep-space wrecks, called hulks, that Cosmos added. It’s not usable on a regular starship or freighter, only on a Corvette.
How to Get the Tractor Beam in NMS
Head to any Space Station and find the Corvette Workshop. The Tractor Beam is sold there alongside the other Corvette parts, so you can build and fit it right away. Don’t bother checking the Space Anomaly, it’s not sold there. The price is around 300,000 units.
How to Use the Tractor Beam
The Tractor Beam doesn’t work alone, it’s paired with the Gravitino Coil, a Multi-Tool attachment. Here’s the loop:
- Equip the Gravitino Coil on your Multi-Tool.
- Spacewalk out near a hulk or other wreck.
- Use the Coil to grab and launch loose salvage toward your Corvette.
- The Tractor Beam automatically pulls it in and stores it in your Corvette’s hold.
If an object is too big, the beam shrinks it down so it can still be stored. No manual pickup needed once it’s launched.
What to Do With the Salvage
Once your hold is full, fly the Corvette to a deep-space outpost. From there, eject the salvage and use your Gravitino Coil again to move each piece into the salvage processor next to the landing area. Processed salvage can be sold for credits or kept for things like decorating your own space station. Outposts also hand out salvage and recovery contracts, so this isn’t just a side activity, it’s tied into actual missions.
Best Tractor Beam Placement
Just like real state it’s all about location, location, location. If you bury the Tractor Beam under other Corvette parts, incoming salvage can clip into the ship’s geometry, and the vent button becomes hard to reach. Leave open space around the beam so cargo has a clear path in and the controls stay accessible.
Salvaging Hulks Safely
Hulks aren’t perfectly stable once you start stripping them. Damaging their structure too much can trigger a meltdown that ends in an explosion. Grab the valuable salvage first instead of trying to clean out the entire wreck, you might not get the chance to finish.
Tractor Beam Not Working or Not Recognized
If a salvage mission says you don’t have a Tractor Beam even though one’s clearly installed, check your Corvette’s technology inventory. If that inventory is full, the external part can sit on your ship without being properly registered as a technology. Free up a slot, remove the beam, and reinstall it, then confirm it appears in your tech list.
Also worth knowing: a few players report that moving or removing an installed Tractor Beam made it vanish completely instead of returning to their inventory, forcing them to buy a new one. Until that’s patched, be careful about repositioning yours.
Cosmos just landed, so expect a few rough edges like this for the next patch or two. If something above stops working exactly as described, it’s probably a launch bug rather than something you’re doing wrong. And as always share with us your useful experiences about the new patch.
