Thargoid Sensor

The Thargoid Sensors (UA) have been reported to look like it's made from sentient life, far beyond what we humans are capable of creating. Some people are speculating this is works of Thargoids, who haven't been seen since their disappearance. It is incredibly rare and only a few pilots have been able to see one themselves, thus being able to sell it for a huge reward.

Finding them

These Thargoid Sensors can be found in Strong Signal Sources. Timocani and 109 Virginis are the only two systems confirmed to spawn them, but Michael Brookes has stated that they are 'exceedingly rare' and that they are only available in certain regions of the galaxy, which would suggest that they are in other systems too. Since v1.3 no new UAs have been found. 

CMDR Wishblend, one of the original UA finders, gives this advice: Template:Quote

File:Ua-chat-text.png

The image shows the chat that you will see if you have found an instance containing a UA.

There are then two ways to get the UA from the Type-9 Heavy, through patience or by force. The UA eats its way out of the ship holding it by degrading modules over time, so in some cases it will just drop out into space in front of you. However, sometimes the Type-9 will jump out before this happens, so you also have option 2.

The mystery of the Unknown Artefact

There is apparently some kind of mystery to be solved around these items, and certain people close to Frontier Developments have said that there are clues in the game, but nobody has spotted them yet. They even went as far to say that they are so obvious that to give any more clues would make it too easy. Despite this, no one has solved the mystery to date. During the period after the first find, some commanders created GalNet content related to the UA which was published, and these are included below but marked with [player submitted].

Timeline of possible clues

10 February: Soontill Alien Artefacts are mentioned in GalNet . Subsequently confirmed by FD that these Artefacts are not Unknown Artefacts.

10 March: v1.2 is released. Includes "- Adding valuable salvage convoys to three permitted systems: LFT 509, Isinor, Witch's Reach"

13 March: The UA appeared for the first time as cargo on board the ship in the official 1.2 Wings trailer

28 April: Arcannon innocently asks a simple question and starts the longest thread in Elite Dangerous Forums' history (now closed) which reached almost 10k posts and has had to be redirected to a new thread

28 April: Michael Brookes comes into the forum thread and says "Have you listened to them?"

29 April: MB confirms later in the same thread that Soontill Relics are not the same thing as UA's, and that UAs cannot be bought

30 April: Strange parasite that attaches to a nervous system is reported in GalNet, but seems to have been subsequently removed

30 April: YouTube video posted by a user who had recently posted another UA hoax, so nobody believed it. See 'The boy who cried wolf' .

02 May: MB says that they are "exceedingly rare [sic] and can only be found within a certain region of space - that does include multiple systems though." and then later clarifies that they can only be found in "certain regions in the galaxy"

02 May: Senator Kahina Tijani Loren’s Imperial Courier undergoes significant refit

02 May: Minos discovers an entry in the Elite Dangerous Pilots Guide:

"3276 - A strange object of unknown origin is discovered in the vicinity of Liazeda (-12,3). Named the LRA (Liazeda RadioAnomoly), the Alliance research ship, the Lion, is sent toinvestigate. The LRA and the ship disappears and its fate is still unknown in 3296. Only a handful of crew, who were deploying probes from two Explorer-class vessels return."

04 May: Wishblend finds the first UA in 109 Virginis , but unfortunately doesn't get it. Henceforth officially celebrated as UA Day across the galaxy, and the official title of UA Seeker was born. That afternoon, a further number were spotted but RedWizzard finally managed to actually grab one in Timocani . Due to a bug a couple more were accidentally duplicated (bug reported). They were spawning a lot that day, for sure.

04 May: [Player Submitted] GalNet reports baffled 'scientists' (players involved in the search and recovery UAs) having found an Unknown Artefact.

06 May: President Halsey's tour of the frontier announced

07 May: [Player Submitted] 'Dr' Arcanonn challenges Halsey about UAs

13 May: President Halsey sets off from Sol

15 May: 78 Ursae Majoris prepares for Halsey's visit

17 May: Kahina Tijani has a custom built 'Gutamaya Discovery Scanner' fitted to her ship

17 May: [Player Submitted] 'Dr' Arcanonn accuses Federation a cover-up about the UAs

18 May: Subsequent report on Soontill Relics in GalNet

20 May: [Player Submitted] Tonnes of Biowaste dropped at 78 Ursae Majoris in protest against Federal cover-up of the UA, Dr Arcanonn denies links with the action

23 May: [Player Submitted] A weird message is broadcast from someone somewhere trying to say something negative about the 'scientists' efforts [citation needed]

26 May: Halsey's Starship One goes missing, official initial report, Felicia Winters steps up as interim president

27 May: Secondary report on what happened to SSOne

28/29 May: Conspiracy theories abound

02 June: Hudson becomes president

05 June: Strange cannisters called Sap 8 Core Container appears in the game with launch of v1.3. No evidence that these are linked to UAs so far

22 June: Mahddogg publishes his panel discussion about Powerplay , in which CMDR Kerrash mentions that "about the whole UA thing, there is something behind that, but no one has figured it out yet" (29m 30s) and that "[Frontier] have put some really obvious [clues] in there and we don't want to put anything else in" for fear of spoiling what is come in the future.

List of tests and theories already tried

The Sound

• The UAs do indeed make an unusual sound. Lots of players have attempted audio decryption using many different techniques and tools. So far nothing has been categorically proven.
• The UAs do sound very similar to the in-ship basic discovery scanner, along with some other strange noises that could be similar to galactic noises heard in the galactic map or in space.
• The sound changed noticeably from v1.2 to v1.3. Similar but different. Tests ongoing.

Theories of origin and use

• The Formadine Rift
  • In Drew Wagar's book "Elite: Reclaimation" one of the characters mentions a hard-to-reach place in the galaxy called the Formadine Rift, where there is something 'worse than the Thargoids'. In true sci-fi thriller/horror tradition, dozens of players immediately went in search of what that might be. Drew was quite active in the forum thread and a connection was suggested that this might have something to do with the UA mystery, but any connection still remains unproven.
• Thargoids
  • Many people think that the UA is of Thargoid origin. The only evidence for this is that it looks quite alieny.
  • There is a theory that it is some form of Thargoid revenge for the Mycoid Virus , sent to kill all the humans.
• Advanced Scanner device
  • The sounds the UA makes are very similar to those made by the basic discovery scanner, and recent theories claim that the UA produces a 'stylised Morse code' of the name of the closest celestial body. Tests are ongoing to prove or disprove this theory.
• A Special System Permit
  • There are systems in game which require an 'unknown permit'. So far, no access has been granted to anyone carrying a UA in their hold to one of these systems.
• Advanced Frameshift Drive
  • There is lore involving a Thargoid Hyperspace Drive and some suspect that it might be one of these. There hasn't been any evidence that it can be fitted to a ship in the normal way.

Systems where they have been found or spotted

• Timocani (confirmed)
• 109 Virginis (confirmed)
• Chamunda (unconfirmed)
• Geawenki (unconfirmed)
• Delphin (unconfirmed)
• Siren (unconfirmed)

Places where they have been taken

• Black holes
• Dropped close to Ammonia planets
• Dropped near various stars

Places where they have not been taken - feel free to try!

• Sagitarius A (The Galactic Centre)
  • As the UA degrades modules quite rapidly, it would a challenging task to take it anywhere of great distance, even with a wing and plenty of Auto Field Maintenance Units.
• Polaris
  • For the same reason as above, with the additional challenge that its a permit protected system. (Note that a UA has been taken to the nearest system to Polaris in 1.2 without any observable differences).

Tests done

• They have been taken to a black hole and recorded
• They have been scanned with an advanced scanner
• The UA 'Spores' or 'glitter' don't appear to do any damage
• Having a refinery fitted with a UA in the hold does nothing
• No new missions or contacts appear with one in the hold
• They are quite delicate and behave similarly to normal cannisters in some ways
  • They degrade over time in space (while ejected) and have a life of about 5 minutes max outside the ship
  • Like toxic waste, they degrade ship's modules over time randomly while in the hold
• They have been allowed to 'expire' in space
• They have been shot with mining lasers
• They have been ejected into space next to various other containers:
  • Toxic waste
  • Sap 8 Core Containers (Colour of the emissions change?)
  • Alien Artefacts
  • Another Unknown Artefact
• They have been ejected inside a station
• They have been ejected into a Outpost (accidentally)
• They do not degrade the ship while docked