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Quick Answer

  • Scan fauna and flora with your Analysis Visor to earn units instantly, no selling required.
  • Fauna rewards more units per scan than flora or minerals, and rare creatures pay out significantly more than common ones.
  • Installing up to three Analysis Visor Upgrade modules (S-class preferred) dramatically multiplies every scan's payout.
  • Placing scanner upgrades in supercharged multi-tool slots boosts rewards further still.
  • Uploading discoveries to the Discoveries tab grants nanites. The amount varies by species rarity.
  • Scanning every fauna species on a planet and claiming the completion banner rewards a bonus nanite payout that scales with how many species the planet has.
  • Only fauna completions count toward the Planetary Zoology milestone; flora and mineral totals have no completion bonus.

Overview

Every time you raise your Analysis Visor and hold the scan button on a creature, plant, or mineral, No Man's Sky pays you immediately in units. This is not a side activity. It is among the most accessible income streams in the game, requires no base, no trade route, and no upfront resource investment beyond your multi-tool upgrades.

For brand-new explorers, scanning is the fastest way to build up early funds after leaving the first planet. For veterans, a dedicated scanning multi-tool stuffed with S-class upgrade modules can generate hundreds of thousands of units per animal scan, and when combined with Nutrient Ingestor food buffs, the method can yield enormous sums per hour.

If you are still learning the basics of the visor itself, check out our Analysis Visor scanning walkthrough first.

How Scanning Rewards Work

Scanning Fauna

Point your Analysis Visor at any creature and hold the scan input until the meter fills. The game immediately deposits units into your account and adds the species to your Discoveries log. You only earn the scan reward the first time you scan a given species on a given planet. Rescanning a creature you have already cataloged on that world gives nothing.

Payout scales with creature rarity:

  • Common fauna: base payout
  • Uncommon fauna: roughly 1.5× the common rate
  • Rare fauna: roughly 3× the common rate

Large or unusual creatures also tend to command higher payouts, though the rarity flag is the primary driver.

Scanning Flora and Minerals

Flora and mineral scans also pay units, but their base rates are lower than fauna. There is no completion bonus for finding every plant or mineral type on a planet, so once you have scanned each variety you encounter, move on rather than hunting for the last mineral deposit.

Mineral scanning was improved in a prior major update to respond meaningfully to upgrade modules, making it more worthwhile than it used to be, but fauna remains king for raw income.

The Analysis Visor in Caves, Water, and the Sky

Fauna hides in every biome. If you are close to completing a planet's fauna list, check:

  • Underground caves: separate spawn pool from the surface
  • Bodies of water: aquatic creatures appear on the visor as red dots
  • The sky: flying creatures appear above and require looking upward
  • Day vs. night: some species only spawn at certain times; if a creature is missing, wait for the cycle to flip

Red dots in the visor mean an unscanned species is nearby. Green pawprints mark ones you have already cataloged.

Scanner Upgrade Modules: The Core Investment

The Analysis Visor Upgrade (also called a Scanner Upgrade module) is a procedurally generated technology you install in your multi-tool's inventory. Each module can provide bonuses to:

  • Fauna Analysis Rewards: units per fauna scan
  • Flora Analysis Rewards: units per flora scan
  • Mineral Analysis Rewards: units per mineral scan
  • Scan Radius: range of your quick-scan pulse

You can install up to three of these modules at once. Installing a fourth disables all modules of that type until the count is brought back down to three. S-class modules offer the highest stat rolls, and X-class modules (found through specific means) can roll even higher. Stacking all three creates a compounding effect that transforms scanning from pocket change into a serious income source.

Practical Payout Ranges with Three S-Class Modules

Target Approximate Units per Scan
Common flora 60,000–75,000
Common fauna 130,000–150,000
Uncommon fauna ~200,000–225,000
Rare fauna ~400,000–450,000+

These figures are approximate community-reported ranges. Your exact numbers depend on module stat rolls and any active buffs.

A thorough scan session on a wildlife-rich planet can yield one to three million units before you even think about uploading.

Supercharged Slots

S-class multi-tools have up to four supercharged slots. Placing scanner upgrade modules in supercharged slots amplifies their bonuses beyond their base rolls. If you are serious about scanning income, find a multi-tool with supercharged slots positioned where you can cluster two or three scanner modules together. Adjacency between scanner modules also provides an additional passive bonus.

For more on sourcing and optimizing your multi-tool, see the No Man's Sky Multi-Tool Guide.

Uploading Discoveries: Free Nanites

Scanning adds species to your local Discoveries log, but uploading them to the Atlas is what earns nanites. Open the Discoveries tab from the main menu, navigate to a planet's fauna, flora, or mineral list, and upload each entry individually, or use the bulk upload option if you do not care about naming them.

Nanite awards per upload vary by species rarity; rarer creatures yield more. The exact numbers are not fixed published values, but the income adds up meaningfully across an active exploration session.

Important: Uploading and earning nanites happens separately from earning units during the scan itself. You can scan a planet's entire fauna roster, earn units in the field, then return to a station and upload everything for a second wave of nanites. Neither step cancels the other.

For a broader look at passive nanite income, the nanites fast guide covers every method ranked by efficiency.

Planet Fauna Completion Bonus

When you have scanned and uploaded every fauna species on a planet, a banner notification appears at the top of the Creatures section in the Discoveries menu. You must manually click this banner to claim the bonus nanites. Many players miss this step and wonder why they received nothing.

The bonus scales with the number of species on that planet. More fauna means more nanites. Planets with a single fauna species (such as exotic worlds) pay out a small fixed amount, while planets with many species can award a substantially larger sum. The exact total varies and is not a published fixed formula, but completing fauna on species-rich planets is meaningfully more rewarding than on sparse ones.

Completing fauna on multiple planets also advances the Planetary Zoology milestone, which tracks how many planets you have fully cataloged.

Flora and Minerals: No Completion Bonus

Only fauna triggers the completion banner and milestone progress. Flora and minerals have no equivalent reward for 100% completion. Scan them as you encounter them for the per-scan unit payout, but do not go out of your way to hunt down every last plant type on a planet. The time is better spent moving to a new world.

The Nutrient Ingestor Synergy (Advanced)

A more advanced technique pairs scanner upgrades with the Nutrient Ingestor, an Exosuit technology introduced in the Worlds Part II update (version 5.5, January 2025). Cooking certain recipes in a Nutrient Processor produces food items that, when consumed via the Nutrient Ingestor, apply a large multiplicative boost to fauna scan rewards on top of your scanner module bonuses. Baked goods are the most effective category, with top-tier items providing buffs exceeding 6,000% to fauna scan payouts and lasting around ten minutes each.

With two or three scanner modules in supercharged slots and an active food buff, per-scan payouts can reach into the millions of units on rare creatures, making this one of the highest unit-per-hour methods in the game for active players. The full setup requires some mid-game progression to unlock, but even a partial version (one or two scanner modules, no food buff) outperforms most early and mid-game income alternatives.

For context on where scanning fits relative to other income methods, see Best Money-Making Methods Ranked by Game Stage.

Practical Tips for Maximizing Discovery Income

Pick the right planets. Lush and jungle biomes tend to support more diverse fauna than barren or irradiated worlds. More species per planet means more per-scan income and a higher completion bonus if you finish the catalog.

Keep a dedicated scanning multi-tool. Many experienced players maintain a second multi-tool reserved exclusively for scanner modules rather than combat weapons. Swapping to it on the ground and back to a combat tool in space takes a second and pays dividends across every exploration session.

Do not ignore minerals early on. Before you have strong scanner modules, mineral scanning is not worth prioritizing. After you have two or three S-class modules installed, it becomes a reasonable supplement. Scan every mineral node you pass on the way to the next animal.

Upload before leaving a system. Nanites from uploading do not expire, but it is easy to forget. Make uploading part of your departure checklist whenever you leave a star system.

Use the quick-scan pulse. Holding the visor scan button without a target sends out a pulse that highlights nearby fauna with red dots on your HUD. Use this on foot to locate creatures across a wider area before walking to them individually. Scanner module upgrades also increase this pulse radius.

FAQ

Does scanning the same creature again give more units?

No. Each species only pays out once per planet. Scanning the same animal a second time on the same world gives nothing. Scanning the same species type on a different planet counts as a new discovery and pays again.

Is there a limit to how many times I can earn discovery rewards?

There is no daily cap or session cap. Every new planet you visit has fresh fauna and flora to scan for full unit payouts and fresh upload opportunities for nanites. The game's procedural generation means you will never run out of undiscovered worlds.

Do I need to be online to earn discovery rewards?

You earn units from scanning offline with no issue. Uploading discoveries to the Atlas (and therefore earning nanites from uploads) requires an internet connection, since the data is sent to Hello Games' servers. In offline mode, you can still scan and earn units in the field but cannot upload until you reconnect.

What is the fastest way to find all fauna on a difficult planet?

Check all four biome types: surface, caves, water, and sky. If you are still missing a species after checking everywhere, try waiting for the day/night cycle to flip. Some creatures only appear at night. Flying to a different region of the planet can also trigger new spawns. If a species remains elusive after exhaustive searching, it is sometimes more efficient to abandon that planet and move on rather than spending an hour on one missing entry.

Should I bother scanning flora and minerals if I am focused on income?

Scan them whenever you pass one. The per-scan payout with upgraded modules is real money for zero extra effort. Just do not go out of your way to hunt for every last plant or mineral type specifically for a completion bonus that does not exist. Fauna completion is the priority if you want to optimize your time.

How does the Planetary Zoology milestone reward me?

The milestone tracks total planets with 100% fauna completion across your save. Advancing the milestone primarily provides progression satisfaction and can tie into certain story or milestone achievement rewards. The main tangible reward for each completed planet is the bonus nanites claimed from the banner notification on that planet's fauna list.

Key Takeaways

  • Scan every creature you encounter. Units land immediately and the investment is just a few seconds per animal.
  • Three S-class Analysis Visor Upgrade modules installed in your multi-tool are the single highest-impact change you can make to your scanning income. Installing a fourth disables all of them, so stop at three.
  • Placing those modules in supercharged slots adds another significant multiplier on top.
  • Upload your discoveries regularly via the Discoveries menu to collect nanites; rarer species pay more.
  • Always click the completion banner when you finish a planet's entire fauna list. That is how you claim the bonus nanites.
  • Flora and mineral scanning pays units per scan but has no completion bonus; prioritize fauna when time is limited.
  • A dedicated scanning multi-tool separate from your combat loadout is worth maintaining once you have the modules to fill it.
  • The Nutrient Ingestor food buff synergy (introduced in the Worlds Part II update) is an advanced technique that can push per-scan payouts into the millions, worth pursuing once your mid-game infrastructure is in place.