Thargoid Sensor

Template:CommodityInfobox Template:Quote The Unknown Artefacts (UA) have been reported to look like a form of sentient life, far beyond what we humans are capable of creating. It is still unknown what the UA is meant for, some people are speculating that this is the work of Thargoids, and there have been lots of other theories. To date, none of these theories have been proven, it is 'exceedingly rare' and only a few pilots have been able to see one themselves, making it extremely challenging to carry out tests and theories.

What does it do?

As far as current tests and analysis show, it appears that the UA does a sort of sonar scan of the closest celestial object or station and then sends out (chittering) sounds which are a highly distorted Wikipedia:Morse code which represents that body.

UA Features

It seems probable that the UA is non-human in origin, and was first discovered some 720 years ago (see 2280s entry in the Timeline below), although at the start of the Elite Dangerous game (3300) its origins are still unknown.

However, the following aspects have been tested and are known:

File:Elite Dangerous UA Features

• In terms of size, it is roughly the same size as a human, and not much bigger.
• From a distance away it makes a loud whale like sound with some muttering and can be spotted by some sparkling and some purple/green gas-like colours.
• It seems to be made of three parts, the head (it looks like a giant egg with an place at the top where it seems like it can open up but some parts glow when the whale noise happens), the stork or spine (it seems to have four parts to it and lights up too to the whale noise), the pods or capsules (there are twelve of these).
• When close to it you can clearly see it giving off a distortion field of some kind which has sparks appearing and disappearing in it with a gas in the entire area, either green or purple. However in the debug camera you can get close enough to the point where the field isn't in the way and you can get a clear view of the UA.
• You can hear the sounds it gives off best when closest. You can hear a whale noise (honk/wail), followed by chittering and purring.
  • Honk/wail: There seem to be two types, these alternate through the UA deployment
  • Chittering: Has been found to be a garbled morse code, tapping out the name of the closest celestial body or station. The purpose, if there is one, of the other noises are yet to be determined.
  • Purrs: There seems to be two types, a low and a high purr. The low purr seems to stay the same through the deployment while the high purr increases in pitch inverse proportionally to the integrity of the UA. With a degrading UA the pitch will slowly increase until the UA is scooped or decays. With an non-degrading 100% UA, the high purr will not change in pitch.
• While inside your ship's cargo hold the UA acts like Toxic Waste by doing corrosion damage to ALL your ship modules.
• They are illegal salvage, so if you have it in your ship and a NPC System Authority scans you, you get a fine of 55,000cr. If stolen, your fine jumps to at least 161,000cr.
• They can be sold for up to 250k cr, though 180-220k cr is an average figure.
• The UA 'Spores' or 'glitter' don't appear to do any damage
• Occasionally they 'explode' sending a cloud of particulates out around them. Extremely slowed down video reveals a strange graphical glitch when this happens (or a tear in the space time continuum)
• 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 canisters in some ways
  • They degrade over time in space (while ejected) and have a life of about 5 minutes max outside the ship, but reset to 100% health when back inside the cargo hold.
  • Like toxic waste, they degrade ship's modules over time randomly while in the hold

Finding them

These Unknown Artefacts can be found in Strong Signal Sources. There are several systems (see below) where they spawn, Timocani and 109 Virginis are the two systems where they have most recently been found and 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 the number of UA discoveries were low but as of August they seem to have increased significantly.

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

File:Ua-chat-text.png

Example of the kind of chat you will see when you have jumped into a UA Strong Signal Source

Template:Quote There are at least Three known Strong Signal Source instances that contain UA's.

The first kind is made up of numerous ships and includes a Vulture, two Anacondas, the Type-9 and other ships. If you get this one, bear in mind that the Type-9 will probably charge its FSD and jump out of the system on its own. You can either choose to follow it (using a wake scanner) or attack it.

File:Ua-convoyA.jpg

This is the first kind of AU carrying convoy. The Type-9 will eventually jump out of the system

The second is made up of four anacondas and the Type-9. This convoy will stop in space and the Anacondas will do a dance around the Type-9. It may be the case that the Type-9 is not a part of the Anaconda wing. It has been reported as the one where the Unknown Artefact will eat its way out of the Type-9's cargo hold without you firing a shot, but this has yet to be corroborated by other commanders.

The third kind was discovered by redditor /u/Boblit67 on the Xbox One in HR 1185 after entering a Strong Signal Source. This historic discovery was not only the first publicly confirmed UA to be found on the Xbox, but also marks the first time a UA had been documented being found floating in normal space, alone, with no convoy. The UA did not degrade, behaving like 'normal' salvage that can be found in signal sources.

While most sightings and recoveries have been in Federation space, similar convoys carrying UAs have been sighted in Imperial space on one or two occasions.

Systems where they have been found or spotted

• Timocani (confirmed) - convoy UA^{[citation needed]}
• 109 Virginis (confirmed) - convoy UA^{[citation needed]}
• Krisha (confirmed)^{[citation needed]}
• Tanmark (confirmed) - convoy UA
• HIP 102128 (confirmed) - convoy UA
• Reshas (20.05.3301 confirmed) - convoy UA
• Blatrimpe (08.05.3301 confirmed) - convoy UA
• UN NO MYOIN (confirmed)
• Bast (Confirmed) - convoy UA
• Wolf 289 (confirmed) - convoy UA^{[citation needed]}
• HR 1185 (confirmed) - salvage UA^{[citation needed]}
• HR 1172 (confirmed) - salvage UA^{[citation needed]}
• LHS 3006 (confirmed) - convoy UA
• Bolg (confirmed) - convoy UA
• Pleiades Sector IR-W D1-34 (confirmed) - salvage UA^{[citation needed]}
• Pleiades LC-V C2-9 (confirmed) - salvage UA^{[citation needed]}
• Pleiades Sector RO-Q B5-1 (confirmed) - salvage UA^{[citation needed]}
• Pleione (confirmed) - salvage UA^{[citation needed]}
• Chamunda (unconfirmed)
• Geawenki (unconfirmed)
• Delphin (unconfirmed)
• Siren (unconfirmed)

File:Ua-convoyB.jpg

This is the second version of the UA carrying convey. This one will hang around and conveniently drop the UA off for you to pick up

Capturing the Unknown Artefact

So you found a convoy with the Unknown Artefact onboard, what now?

The best strategy to capture the artefact seems to be the following:

• Wing up, three or four commanders
• Set hyperspace destination to another system. This will help you bail out without the Anacondas mass-lock interfering
• Wait for the first group of escorts to jump out. You should be left with the Type-9 and two Anacondas
• One commander prepares Hatch Breaker Drones and gets ready to scoop the UA
• Another commanders takes down the shield on the Type-9. This will trigger immediate response from the Anacondas
• While the scooper tries to get the hatch on the Type-9, the other commanders distract the Anacondas. Hit and run tactics, draw them away from the Type-9
• As soon as the T-9 is bagged, jump out. Keep in mind you are now wanted in the system and the UA carrier will get a fine whenever scanned

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 events

2280s Discovery of first non-human relic in space. Origin still unknown in 3300.

3300

12 January: Federal Vice President Dies in swimming pool.

13 January: Federal Vice President Smeaton's death does not appear to be as straight forward as it first appeared.

16 January: Smeaton's widow accuses the military industrial complex of involvement in her husbands death.

28 January: Federal Congressman George Fallside is revealed to have sent condolences to Smeaton's family 30 minutes before his death was announced.

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".^{[citation needed]}

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

14 March: Strange chatter in a Federal Convoy in the Tanmark system reported on Reddit.

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? Garbled morse code has since been discovered to be in the 'Chittering' part of the sound; A /List of recordings/ (video and audio) has been compiled.

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.^{[citation needed]}

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.

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".^{[citation needed]}

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

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).^{[citation needed]}

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

08 May: Two sightings of UA Convoys by CMDR Nilreb in Blahtrimpe.

13 May: President Halsey sets off from Sol.

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

15 May: Another UA Convoy sighting, this time in HIP 102128.

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.

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

27 May: Secondary report on what happened to Spaceflight One.

28/29 May: Conspiracy theories abound.

02 June: Zachary Hudson becomes Federal president.

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

22 June: CMDR 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 to come in the future.

27 June: CMDR Kerrash talks about various things, including Thargoid conjecture ("They are coming"), and that the UA and confirms there is something to it, and that "if any people watching have got in with the UA thing and got halfway in and not looked into it anymore, please pleeease carry on looking, there is something there, there is an interesting secret there, please look, and the SAP 8 containers as well, there is something going on, dont give up!".

05 July: CMDR Kerrash comes into the new thread, asks "Has anybody cracked it yet?", when gently prodded follows up with "Frontier did not spend all this effort in making a wild goose chase, I would imagine quite the fanfare when the truth is uncovered. BTW Are we even sure it is morse code?" and "Yes there is more to it, I will see if I can get FD to drop another hint".

06 July: CMDR Branch finds another UA.

10 July: [player submitted] UA Scientists claim a breakthrough that the UA broadcasts its closest celestial body (or station) in a form of morse code.

14 July: CMDR Patau82 spots another convoy in Timocani, but unfortunately fails to grab it.

14 July: Reports of a 'Cerberus' Plague "beyond BD-02 4304" which mentions "an unusual three-pronged structure at the ‘head’ of the phage-like organism." which led to the Phage Theory (see below). Later lead to six Community Goals in three different systems, three anti piracy and three bring medicines ("Debilitating disease devastating 20 Opiuchi / Dajoar / Eleu" and "Movement For Dajoar Independants / Social Eleu Progressive Party / Workers of 20 Opiuchi Values Party Pay for Protection").

17 July: CMDR Lurius spots another UA Convoy in Timocani but unfortunately destroyed the UA during scooping. Extra information derived the route the convoy took was Timocani -> Yggdrajang -> Breksta (System jump -> cruising -> dropping into station space -> system jump -> cruising -> dropping into station space). Also, the strange chat (pictured above) continued through supercruise.^{[citation needed]}

17 July: CMDR Kerrash briefly mentions the UA hunt again in his stream.

19 July: CMDR Branch finds another UA, the first known commander to retrieve two. This replaced one he had loaned to CMDR Zenith, which was lost to a player killer (not pirate).

20 July: CMDR Branch loses his second UA through a scooping incident by another commander.^{[citation needed]}

23 July: CMDR Britain finds an Unknown Artefact.

25 July: CMDR Branch finds another UA, bringing the known possessed count back up to 3. This is also the third UA Branch has recovered.

28 July: CMDR Blain Crighton & his wing manage to obtain two Unknown Artefacts from the same convoy. One of theirs was accidentally crushed after being released in a station, the other was sold at Leonard Nimoy Memorial Station.

Theories proposed

• The Sound (When Michael Brookes said "Have you listened to them", this was taken as a most significant clue')
  • The UAs do indeed make an unusual sound. It appears to be made up of three main elements: The Honk (sounds like a whale noise), The Chitter (recently discovered to be a garbled morse code of the closest celestial body or station) and The Purr (When sped up x3 sounds like a trombone). There is a fourth element, a constant buzzing noise which has yet to be analysed fully, but also appears to have morse code embedded ...- .. -.. ---.. (VID8). Another "4th signal" theory based on an examination of the audio proposes that there is a continuous S.O.S. signal being emitted by the probe that can be heard on most recordings.
    • However, this "4th signal" is not present when the UA was recorded in HR1185 (Free floating UA) & HIP63835D (UA Deployed & degrading), for reasons unknown.
  • 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.
  • Various sound recordings from different locations and pilots were fed into a Slow Scan TV decoder, no coherent images were produced. If there is SSTV data stored within the sound it is distorted beyond easy recovery.
• Advanced Scanner device
  • The sounds the UA makes are very similar to those made by the basic discovery scanner, and it has been recently proven that the UA produces a 'stylised Morse code' of the name of the closest celestial body during the 'chittering' section of the sound. The purpose of the whale noise and the purrs are yet to be determined.
  • The sounds the UA makes have also been compared to the sounds planetary bodies make in the system map.
• The Colour Pulse Theory
  • The UA pulses purple and green, apparently randomly. There is a new theory that the green pulses increase in number the closer it is to its origin (or destination).
  • Currently, the tests are non-conclusive, as multiple tests in the same system give different results. This suggests a random rather than deliberate distribution.
• The Mayan Numbers Theory
  • The markings on the UA look similar to the ancient Mayan number system (base 20) and it has been discussed at length in the forums. No real breakthrough as yet.
• Price Triangulation Theory
  • This theory proposes that, with regular rare goods, the selling price for the UA should reduce the closer it gets to its origin.

• Thargoids
  • Many people think that the UA is of Thargoid origin. The only evidence for this is that it looks quite alien.
  • There is a theory that it is some form of Thargoid revenge for the Mycoid Virus, sent to kill all the humans. Suggestions were made of links to the He Bo virus outbreak.
  • There was a suggestion that it was a Thargoid Escape Pod, possibly from events which occurred at Peregrina at the end of, part of the new ED lore. T. James Elite: Out of the Darkness
  • There was an idea that it looks like an egg/seeding pod, the beginning of a invasion.
• A tiny space station
  • A recent poster suggested that it might be a miniature space station and the little flecks of light are its tiny ships. Further speculation included ejecting gold nearby to tempt the Leprechauns out of hiding, suggesting an Irish origin. These theories have yet to be disproved.
• The Leviathan Theory
  • Influenced by possible clues in the Wings 1.2 Trailer, this theory picks up many references which appear to point towards the word 'Leviathan' and whales. In Frontier First Encounters, The Leviathan was a 200 metre long fish or whale which inhabited the planet New California in the Liaququ system, and could travel in space as a ship. Unfortunately, that system doesn't appear to exist in the game. Another version of this theory involves Junior the intelligent dolphin and his companion, also from Frontier First Encounters.^{[citation needed]}
• The Phage Theory
  • On 14 July a Galnet article mentioned an outbreak of disease, which mentioned a three pronged 'phage like' organism' which led people to make the connection that the UA could be a Phage of some sorts, as it looks similar in some ways. Earth Phages are microscopic organisms, so the UA's host would have to be enormous, which is a scary thought.
• Discharge upon final decay
  • Once a UA reaches 0% in open space, it explosively discharges green sparks from the 12 "pods" while emitting a screaming howl, and fires what appears to be an energy or plasma pulse rapidly away from the "head" of the artefact. What is the purpose of this explosive ending? Is the UA going off like a bomb? Is it delivering a payload of some kind? Some speculate that the UAs might be used to counter the so-called "Cerberus Plague" in some manner. Others speculate that the Cerberus Plague is being spread by the UAs. Further research is needed to determine the nature and character of a UA's decay and demise.
• The Decoy Beacon Theory
  • Along the lines of President Halsey's mysterious disappearance, her ship jumped and never arrived at the point it was expected. This theory proposes that the UA acts as a decoy nav beacon, drawing its unlucky victim into a waiting ambush instead of the usual arrival point.
• The INRA/Dark Wheel/CEIP theory
  • Based on consistent lore from John Harper's And Here the Wheel and in-game Events, as well as from Frontier First Encounters, this theory posits that the UAs are being used to generate fear of aliens, via propaganda linking them to such events as the Cerberus Plague and the disappearance of Starship One. INRA, or a breakaway faction of the Dark Wheel, the Circle of Elite Independent Pilots, or "Ceepers", would be behind the appearance of the UAs and the propaganda, and the assassination of the Federation President and linking that event to the UAs and aliens, in order to force a war between the Federation and Empire so that humanity would unite under the winner against the purported alien threat. It is possible that the crystal at the heart of the SAP-8 Core Container is a data crystal from a Ceeper Base containing information related to Soontill, Raxxla, and aliens.
• The Alien Probe or Alien Terraformer theory
  • Similar to the scanner theory above, the idea here is that the alien race behind the UA have encountered one or both of the Voyagers (which were believed to have gone missing in the game, but voyager 2 has recently been found), from which they learnt to communicate via the stylized Morse and the whale sounds and dolphin or sea turtle chittering and honks that are similar to their own language. Find a Voyager, and with it and the UA together, communication can occur with the aliens, somehow.
  • Or, the probe is looking for something, like a suitable planet for terraforming, and transmitting its coordinates using the stylized Morse. Once it has found what it is looking for, this message will change.
  • Neither hold a lot of water as it deteriorates over time in space. Although the probe could be damaged.

Theories Disproved

• The Formidine Rift
  • In Drew Wagar's book "Elite: Reclamation" one of the characters mentions a hard-to-reach place in the galaxy called the Formidine 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 this connection has since been disproved. There is no connection between Senator Kahina Tijani Loren and the UA, as indicated by the author himself.
• 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.
• A Compass
  • The theory that the UA points either where it came from or where it wants to go has been disproven. When ejected they point in no particular direction
• Halsey's Tour
  • The theory is that President Halsey's ship was carrying an Unknown Artefact, which caused the complex multiple-system failure.
  • Her tour locations were listed twice on GalNet (with additional destinations the second time).
  • Following the stops in order (up to/including the Azaleach detour) with the UA on-board was tested and nothing extraordinary happened, including checking stations along the way.
• Limited Number Theory
  • It was proposed that there are only a limited number of UA's available in the game in total and that the next step will only be accessible if we let them all expire. Since then confirmed sightings of more UA's have been reported and the possibility of additional UAs in the possession of commanders who don't know of the main research group or who have left the game, the limited number theory has been refuted. It seems unlikely that FD would rely on the destruction of all UAs as a trigger for the next stage as its impossible to tell when that has actually happened. In addition, similarly to the 'Sell It' theory and the 'let them finish' theory, consensus between the UA custodians was that there is still much research work to do before we risk their sacrifice in the name of a hunch.
• Let them finish what they are designed to do (unverifiable)
  • The theory suggests that the UA tends to want to destroy itself and the ship that carries it, and therefore taking it long distances would seem the opposite of what its designed to do. The suggestion is that it would be interesting to see in detail, closeup, what happens when they expire. The theory is that they seem to scan an area and then explode from the bottom of the structure toward the head/node. During this, there apppears to be a burst of energy in the vector of the explosion a strange space field type pulse, spacial distortion, dimensional rift or a graphical glitch of the shadow effect of the UA's own silhouette. The theory further suggests that the UAs either explode, travel to a new location or go home. The UA has already been filmed expiring on a couple of occasions and nothing dramatic happened, and unfortunately this theory requires the sacrifice of an exceedingly rare object.
• Sell it at Leonard Nimoy Station
  • The first sighting of the UA in the 1.2 Wings Trailer had the carriers heading to Leonard Nimoy Station to sell it. Unfortunately, the UA spawn is so rare that understandably none of the custodians want to sell theirs.
  • Further researches about Leonard Nimoy, brought to our attention a record he contributed to, named Wikipedia:Whales Alive, where he reads poems about the sea and Whales. Listening to it, a lot of similarities to the sounds the UA emits, can be found.^{[citation needed]}
  • In Start Trek IV movie, Leonard Nimoy is able to communicate with a Whale, and to understand her.
  • CMDR Blain Crighton sold a UA at Leonard Nimoy station on 28/07/15. No effect.

Tests done

• Audio recordings have (mostly) been done in 'debug camera' mode, so as to eliminate ship sounds and with systems disabled (including life support).^{[citation needed]}
• Tests are usually performed with two pilots present.^{[citation needed]}
• Tests are done in normal space.^{[citation needed]}
• Tests with the UA next to other items are tested both in normal space and in cargo holds.^{[citation needed]}
• Location tests are done both in the cargo hold and in normal space if possible.^{[citation needed]}
• In the case of Polaris, having a UA in your hold will not allow you to make the jump in-system.^{[citation needed]}
• They have been allowed to 'expire' in space.^{[citation needed]}
• They have been ejected inside a station.^{[citation needed]}
• They have been ejected into an outpost (accidentally).^{[citation needed]}
• They have been ejected during supercruise (accidentally).^{[citation needed]}
• They do not degrade the ship while docked.^{[citation needed]}
• UA and ship have been at overheating temperatures and freezing temperatures.^{[citation needed]}
• Tried to see if they can be put in a module slot in Outfitting. They can't.^{[citation needed]}
• Tried use it in place of other modules along with trying to turn off FSD when fully charged so the UA takes over.^{[citation needed]}
• Replaced a nav beacon with a UA, nothing happened.^{[citation needed]}
• Tried flashing ship lights along with the UA's light (Morse). Nothing happened.
• Tried communicating with the UA over local chat comms. Nothing happened.^{[citation needed]}
• Test with the UA next to hafnium, painite and SAP 8 core container.
  • Every sound sequence had 3 purrs in this recording. That means SAP8, Hafnium 178 and/or Painite can't be discounted as an influence.^{[citation needed]}
• Tests with the UA next to 8, 6, 4 SAP 8 core containers
  • Interesting result: the number of purrs (after the howl, after the morse chitter sequence) changes from 5 to 3 purrs with 8 SAP 8 Canisters nearby. More tests required to verify if this is an effect of SAP 8 specifically, or canisters of any kind? Will 12 have more of an effect? etc.
• Tests with the UA next to 12 SAP 8 core container
• Tried to go into witchspace through the orginal Elite way (pitch and roll at maximum)
• Tests with the UA being in the darkness of a planet
• Checked for bulletin board missions relating to it at many stations and outposts including Leonard Nimoy several times over
• Ship carrying the UA has been interdicted several times - and has interdicted others while carrying the UA
• UA has been taken to many systems and has found to produce morse code of the nearest celestial object (or station - the first decoding of the Morse was SEEGA PORT)
• Two UA's in one ship has done nothing except made the corrosion damage done to the cargo hatch double, it was attempted to get 3 into the ship but could not get the two ships into the right instance to hand over a UA
• UA has been dropped by it'self and with a SAP 8 container at the same area
• UA has been taken to a capital ship, both in the cargo hold & free-floating in space. No comms or interest from the capital ship at all.
• Has been taken to Themiscrya, it can be found on galaxy map by searching for "them" (as in have you tried listening to them), in mythology this was the capital of the nation of all-female warriors called Amazons. Apparently the Thargoids are also an all female race.
  • The result of the audio tests were peculiar but inconclusive.  The UA made 3 purrs during the first audio sequence, then 5/6 purrs for every sequence afterward.  This test was repeated again with the same result. Ratking15 was looking at the UA towards the planet, Zenith was looking from the side of the UA outward into space.
• Tested with fish, the theory being it wants fish! No response.
• Tested with Baltah'sine Vacuum Krill (a space-born delicacy) in the ring they supposedly spawned in, theory being the UA has expensive taste = Nothing
• Tested with HIP Proto-Squid = Nothing
• Attempted to send it Morse over local comms (the current stellar body, "Thargoid", "Raxxla") = Nothing
• Attempted shutting off Life Support to see if it would affect the toxic corrosion (w/o O2 in the cargo hold) = Nothing
• CMDR's have jumped systems or into supercruise while near a UA or into a system with the UA being deployed to no effect. This has been done in a Wing as well, with part of the Wing in one system and the UA and the rest of the Wing in an adjacent system, with the UA dropped in normal space to see if it would work as some sort of system to system jump beacon for a Wing, to no effect.
• Taken to Hippoc Bioceuticals Research Station in 51 Arietis, an odd system where it says it needs a permit but I think's bugged so any can enter. Could see nothing in contact/missions/commodites.
• Listened to inside and outside an ORCA = Nothing
• Hit with mining laser no effect
• Tested with the miraculous, plague-curing Heike Tea = Nothing
• Had 5 UA's together in close proxmitiy

Pinged with various devices

• Normal Ship Sensors = Nothing
• Ship Lights = Nothing
• Frameshift wake scanner = Nothing
• Cargo scanner = Nothing
• Kill warrant scanner = Nothing
• Discovery Scanner = Nothing
• Detailed Surface Scanner = Nothing
• Shooting = Nothing
• ECM = Nothing
• Chaff Launcher = Nothing

Ejected and observed / listened to next to other items and places

• Various commodities
• Hafnium = Nothing
• AI relic = Nothing
• Soontill Relic = Nothing
• Ancient Artefact = Nothing
• Painite = Nothing
• NAV beacon (250 meters) = Nothing
• Black Box = Nothing
• In-place of a destroyed NAV beacon = Nothing
• Leonard Nimoy station = Nothing
• Earth = Nothing
• Black Hole = Nothing
• Sol = Nothing
• HE BO = Nothing
• Peregrina = Nothing
• Polaris = Nothing
• Toxic waste = Nothing
• Sap 8 Core Containers = Nothing
• Alien Artefacts = Nothing
• Close to Ammonia Planets = Nothing
• Dropped near various stars = Nothing
• Another Unknown Artefact = Nothing
• Azaleach = Nothing
• Quiness (planet Quy mentioned in F:FE) = Nothing
• Ross 154 (planet Merlin mentioned in F:FE) = Nothing. Morse reads Merlin.
• BD-02 4304 (in GalNet & mentioned by Kerrash) = Nothing
• Soontill (system, not the relic) = Nothing, chitter present w/ no nav beacon
• Guinna = Nothing
• Canopus = Nothing
• Exphiay = Nothing
• HIP 53688 = Nothing
• Furuhjelm I-695 (gas giant w/ ammonia-life) = Nothing
• Jaque's Station = Nothing
• Lave = Nothing
• In station with a blown-out canopy (all modules off)
• In space with a blown-out canopy (all modules off)
• In space with a blown-out canopy (all modules off except thrusters) trying to get the UA inside a Cobra through the canopy
• Voyager. Specifically to location where currently (24/07/15) missing Voyager probe would be expected, UA reported "SOL"
• Delphin (a Halsey tour stop) = Nothing
• Shinrarta Dezhra = Nothing
• LTT 4550 (other Shinrarta system, maybe Dark Wheel?) = Nothing
• Tau Ceti (star, Taylors Colony, station) = Nothing
• Fawaol (star, Tracy, station) = Nothing
• Sleipnir (trying to reproduce the 3-purr scenario) = Nothing
• Pareco = Nothing
• Quator = Nothing
• Riedquat = Nothing
• Ross 780 = Nothing
• I Bootis = Nothing
• Dustball = Nothing
• HIP 35900 = Nothing
• Heike 8 = Nothing
• Sirius = Nothing
• Lucifer (around Sirius B) = Nothing
• Eta Cassiopeiae (military system) = Nothing
• In the fuel scoop zone of a scoopable star (Hip 32916, class G)
• Next to the aerial of a civilian outpost (Zindell Enterprise, Waikino)
• Near a military outpost (Bethke Station, Bacamadia)
• California Nebula (according Wings 1.2 trailer)=Nothing
• Moon = Nothing
• Europa = Nothing
• Titan = Nothing
• Bast = Nothing
• Argent's Claim = Nothing
• Antares = Nothing
• Imentet = Nothing
• Khepera = Nothing
• Planet Lave = Nothing
• Sagittarius A* = Nothing

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

• Polaris
  • 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, 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).
• The Formidine Rift
  • Same reasons as above. The Formidine Rift is around 13,000 light years from human space, between the Outer Arm and the Perseus Arm in the eastern end of the galaxy.

• Raxxla
  • Because nobody knows where it is. Except the Thargoids.
• LFT 509
  • how to get the permit is unknown
• Isinor
  • permit is currently not obtainable as a different minor faction has taken control of the system
• Witch's Reach
  • how to get the permit is unknown
• Regor Sector - Still Permit Unknown Required with a UA
• Voyagers
  • Voyager 2 has been found on 21-08-15, and some tests are currently being carried out by Commander J Stoutbeard . Tests have been performed where the Voyagers are expected to be (see above), but not when Voyager is present, until .

Proposed Testing Regimen

The number of theories under consideration means that it will take a fixed number of UAs to test each outcome.  Each of these tests is destructive, ie. we lose the UA during the test conditions.

The prefix numbers are simply for enumerating and indentifying each test, they do not refer to priority, sequence or ranking.  This list isn't exahaustive, and "The Canonn" group investigating the UAs may create or remove tests at any time.

1. Sell a UA on the Black Market at Newton Dock, BD-02 4304
   • Purpose: To see if a cure for the Cerberus Plague appears soon after selling the UA
   • Expected Outcome: Loss of the UA, gain of 180KCr to the Cmdr selling it.
   • Taken on by:
   • Actual Outcome:
2. Sell a UA on the Black Market at a plague CG station
   • Purpose: To see if a cure for the Cerberus Plague appears soon after selling the UA.
   • Expected Outcome: Loss of the UA, gain of ~180KCr to the Cmdr selling it.
   • Taken on by:
   • Actual Outcome:
3. Allow a UA to decay in open space in front of a shutdown plague station
   • Purpose: To see if the explosive "death" of the UA provides a cure for the station.
   • Addendum: Position a ship very close to the head's "mouth" of the expiring UA, to see if some Time/Space related event could happen.
   • Expected Outcome: Loss of the UA
   • Taken on by:
   • Actual Outcome:
4. Allow a UA to decay in open space in front of a plague station with an active CG.
   • Purpose: To see if the explosive "death" of the UA affects the outcome of the CG.
   • Addendum: Position a ship very close to the head's "mouth" of the expiring UA, to see if some Time/Space related event could happen.
   • Expected Outcome: Loss of the UA
   • Taken on by:
   • Actual Outcome:
5. Allow a UA to decay inside a plague station with an active CG.
   • Purpose: To see if the explosive "death" of the UA affects the outcome of the CG.
   • Addendum: Position a ship very close to the head's "mouth" of the expiring UA, to see if some Time/Space related event could happen.
   • Expected Outcome: Loss of the UA
   • Taken on by:
   • Actual Outcome:
6. Release UA in the Fuel scooping zone of a star. Turn your ship so its ejected away from the star.

1. • Purpose:The UA looks like it might have 12 fuel scoops. Perhaps if it gets extra fuel it might trigger something.
   • Expected Outcome: UA will get hotter
   • Taken on by:
   • Actual Outcome:

• Sell an UA on the Black Market at Li Qing Jao, Sol

• • Purpose: Selling the UA will "unlock" its secret. Location chosen because the sounds emitted by the UA, whale, dolphin, etc. points to the only planet known in the galaxy to have these animals, i.e. Earth.
  • Expected outcome: Secret unlocked.
  • Taken on by: Cmdr Macros Black.
  • Actual outcome: No secret unlocked.
• Take an UA to Jaques Station

• • Purpose: Entering Jaques Station carrying an UA will trigger Jaques station's true purpose as a gateway to Raxxla.
  • Expected outcome: Ship will be transported to Raxxla.
  • Taken on by: Cmdr Macros Black.
  • Actual outcome: Ship not transported to Raxxla.

1. (Non Destructive) Check if a deployed UA appears on the nav panel of a ship in nearby Supercruise or effects the jump-in point of a system.
   • Purpose: To see if the UA was directly used as a Decoy Beacon in the disappearance of President Halsey, suggested steps as follows:
     1. CMDR 1 deploys a UA in System X (normal space)
     2. CMDR 2 flies in Supercruise in same system, Advanced scanning and checking nav panel
     3. CMDR 1 scoops UA and jumps to System Y, re-deploys UA in normal space (away from Nav Beacon)
     4. CMDR 2 Jumps from System X to System Y
     5. Repeat as wingmen.
   • Expected Outcome: No extra information on Nav Panel, even after advanced scanning in Supercruise, no change in the entry point to a system.
   • Taken on by: CMDR Byker and CMDR Britain
   • Actual Outcome: Nothing happened in either the supercruise (wing beacon) test nor the hyperspace (nav beacon) test
2. Release a UA inside a station
   • Purpose: Check rate of decay - is it different than in open space?
   • Expected Outcome: No difference inside or outside a station
   • Taken on by: Blain Crighton
   • Actual Outcome: No apparent difference although squeezing one between the nose of a Python and the sttion walls accelerates degradation dramatically.
3. Replay the same Morse back to the UA in Local Comms
   • Purpose: Try to communicate
   • Expected Outcome: UA will reply with different Morse other than closest celestial object name
   • Taken on by: CMDR Branch
   • Actual Outcome: Tried in Saga. Did both "Saga" & "Saga A" in Morse. No apparent change in behavior or sound.
4. Take a UA to the planet Quy in Quiness system
   • Purpose: See if behaviour changes in a system with a known Thargoid presence from FFE (and possibly in ED given description of the planet)
   • Expected Outcome: Unknown
   • Taken on by: CMDR Branch
   • Actual outcome: Unclear. Standard UA sounds , but I wasn't able to confirm the Morse. Another forum user did confirm that Morse was "Quy".
5. Reproduce a mis-jump in an identical convoy of a T9 carrying a UA in a wing with 2 Anacondas.
   • Purpose: See if a mis-jump occurs either in the Anacondas or the T9
   • Expected outcome: A mis-jump
   • Taken on by:
   • Actual outcome:
6. Find Voyager 1 or 2 and take a UA to it
   • Purpose: See if changes in Morse or whale sounds occur
   • Expected outcome: Communication!
   • Taken on by: Cmdr John Stoutbeard
   • Actual outcome: No direct communication. UA recording near Voyager 2
7. Take a UA to Regor Sector
   • Purpose: See if having UA aboard allows ship to jump to permitted sector systems. Likely would require a Wing and multiple AMUs on each ship.
   • Expected outcome: Ability to enter Regor Sector
   • Taken on by:
   • Actual outcome:
8. Jettison UA in witch-space
   • Purpose: Check if witch-space really is completely non-interactive, by pressing jettison with a UA on board, while jumping in witch-space
   • Expected outcome: Thargoids
   • Taken on by:
   • Actual outcome:
9. Bring an UA in contact with Biowaste
   • Purpose: To test whether or not "feeding" the UA will help it transform (metamorphosis)
   • Expected outcome: UA will turn into a pretty butterfly
   • Taken on by:
   • Actual outcome:
10. Bring an UA to Khepera System
    • Purpose: To test if bringing the UA near the planet does anything - also to see if bringing it to the station Very Horizons brings up any missions. Or interesting NPC chatter.
    • Expected outcome: UA will open us to new horizons
    • Taken on by:
    • Actual outcome:
11. Homing Beacon
    • Purpose: Test to see if the location of the system in which the UA is deployed changes the volume of the 4th sound. If the sound increases, decreases, or disappears completely dependant on where it is located on the galactic grid. EX.: Start in Alioth, and head towards the Pleiades. deploying the UA to check if there is any discernible change to the 4th signals' intensity.
    • Expected outcome: Unknown
    • Taken on by:
    • Actual outcome:

Who has a UA?

There are currently seven known UAs in game, these are in the possession of CMDR Ratking15 (longest UA Bearer, the old crony), CMDR Britain, CMDR Nicolas Powell, CMDR Fulsamee(2 UA's) CMDR Branch, and CMDR Sirkh.  UAs have been found as early as the 1.2.06 patch and as recently as the 1.3.06 patch.

Ratking15 have streamed several times the UA on his twitch stream before attempting to upload them to Youtube, you can find his highlights of the streams (which are all of the stream mostly) on his channel with sound.

Branch does not have a (working) Twitch stream, but recordings & posts videos on a YouTube UA-specific playlist.

Cmdr Britain (Bitstorm) has a Youtube playlist and a Google Drive with various images/audio.

Who had a UA?

Various commanders had originally acquired UA-s during the first "rush", but those have been lost to various accidents since. Of them, commanders Digitalscream, Glyn-ie, Marx, Murp have posted recordings of the UA's audio: see the list of their files here.

Like Ratking15, Wishblend also has streamed several times with UA tests as well as casual gameplay though more often than Ratking15 who would rather not risk losing his UA when it might still be required.

However tragically during a trip to a testing zone Wishblend accidentally lost her UA......however her streams of the UA are still up and might be helpful for those who are looking for experience. Also Wishblend's streams are usually just in-game sounds as she prefers this, you can find her previous streams and highlights here: http://www.twitch.tv/wishblend/profile

CMDR Branch has managed to lose two UAs prior to the (current) third one. The first was during a loan to another commander. The second was lost in a scooping accident while trying to have another commander hold the UA to allow for switching ships.

CMDR Delmonte & Cmd Outspan have had 3 UA's 1st was destroyed during testing see here https://www.dropbox.com/s/mocyqytpxdbfi5y/Death%20of%20A%20UA.mp4?dl=0 2nd one was given to Nicholas Powell for testing 3rd was found free floating in HR1185 and given to Rizal72 for testing

Care and feeding of your UA

File:UADegradation.png

Unknown Artefact degradation over time. A UA can survive 6m40s before exploding.

Congratulations! All your hard work has finally paid off, you're now the proud owner of an Unknown Artefact!

UAs can be quite delicate, it would be a terrible shame if you lost it the very same day wouldn't it?

This section is intended as a short user's guide to UA ownership. Read, take note and together we can ensure your UA has a long, happy and fruitful life.

There are many ways UAs can be inadvertently lost, some more obvious than others :

• Testing can be repetitive, and it's easy to become distracted. Pay attention when jettisoning, it is possible to jettison in supercruise. This is a lost UA.
• There's been one report of a CMDR backing 800-900m from a UA and it disappearing from the instance despite the CMDR having A class scanners, it makes no sense but it's happened at least once.
• A UA stored in cargo will cause a toxic corrosion event, this event will occur once every 30 seconds or so, each event will result in 1-2% damage to a random module.
• Multiple UAs or UAs plus toxic items increase the rate of module degradation.
• Watch cargo hatch degradation like a hawk. The cargo hatch has been seen to fail and eject cargo when as high as 84%. In supercruise this would be an unrecoverable UA. Keep it above 90%.
• Ensure landing gear is up before scooping, some ship models have the front landing gear blocking the cargo hatch.
• The UA can make you a target for other CMDR/player groups!
• Watch closly each "blip" on radar while testing. Don't forget how good NPC's can be now and how hard it was to gain the UA. Guarding CMDR's are a great option also when they stay 3 km away!
• When testing make sure you are keeping at very low speeds and never pointing at the UA as it's very easy to crash into one and blow it up, this also goes for anyone else with you as destructions by that has happened.