Astroneer Curious Item Guide: Locations, Effects, and Every Log

A Curious Item is one of Astroneer's stranger discoveries: a glowing pink crystal that crackles with electricity and does far more than sit in a backpack looking suspicious. It is mainly a lore item, but activating it also changes the sky in a dramatic way.

What Curious Items Do

Curious Items were added in Update 1.26. Their main purpose is to reveal recovered narrative entries connected to the ESS Elysium and the attempted recovery of the missing ESS Triton.

To activate one, hold the Use key, which is F by default on PC. The item fires a beam upward, the star band begins spinning, and a bright effect fills the sky. When the animation ends, the sky shows cracks, shards, and prismatic pieces.

Use a Curious Item four times to return the sky to normal. Space apparently has a reset button, which feels fair after everything else Astroneer asks players to build by hand.

Where to Find Curious Items

Curious Items can appear inside abandoned backpacks found while exploring planets and moons. They are not usually sitting beside the starting base, so expect to travel.

The Usagi Galastropod can help locate abandoned backpacks. Feed Usagi a Mutant Hissbine Seed to create a compass marker for 10 minutes. Follow the marker and it may lead to a backpack containing a Curious Item.

Bring oxygen support, power, and basic survival supplies before chasing distant markers. A Curious Item is not much help if the trip ends with suffocation ten meters from the prize.

All Curious Item Entries

There are 67 Curious Items in Astroneer. Each recovered entry adds another fragment to the Elysium, Triton, anomaly, and Chronos story. The early Elysium logs follow the search mission and the crew's growing unease. The Triton entries explain the hidden LRD work and the signal that pulled the ship off course. The corrupted entries then jump between memory fragments, system failures, and training-program recovery logs. Read together, the set shows how the rescue attempt, the anomaly, and Chronos became tangled into the simulation's damaged history.

Because several entries share the same identifier, use the text itself as the unique clue rather than relying only on the bracketed code. The duplicate codes are intentional recovered fragments, not a sorting mistake.

• [May1#ELYx]: Bell notes reassignment to the Elysium to help search for the Triton, with Stone worried because some of his team were aboard.
• [May1#ELYx]: Doctor Stone says the rescue mission is pointless as a rescue, though data may still be recovered from the Triton.
• [May3#ELYx]: Frank reports the job has been unusually easy because nothing on the ship breaks.
• [May4#ELYx]: Dr. Lady dislikes the assignment because most people are in pods and there is little to monitor.
• [May15#ELYx]: Dr. Lady has reorganized medical supplies repeatedly and is clearly bored.
• [May15#ELYx]: Doctor Stone values coffee with Conductor Bell but regrets not talking her out of joining the mission.
• [May18#ELYx]: Frank says systems are starting to fail during the deep-space mission.
• [May18#ELYx]: Dr. Lady watches malfunctioning pods while Chronos is expected to fix them.
• [May19#ELYx]: Bell senses something wrong with the mission but trusts Stone as a friend and partner.
• [Jun2#ELYx]: Bell wakes at night and hears whispering despite being alone in the cabin.
• [Jun3#ELYx]: Doctor Stone wonders whether Bell's sleep problems match his attempts to decode Doctor Allen's final message.
• [Jun5#ELYx]: Frank believes someone has been interfering with his equipment.
• [Jun17#ELYx]: Frank connects the ship's worsening failures to their approach toward the anomaly.
• [Jun17#ELYx]: Dr. Lady nearly loses a crew member whose status suddenly becomes critical.
• [Jun18#ELYx]: Bell says Stone has canceled their usual meetup again and is acting unlike himself.
• [Jun21#ELYx]: Frank hopes salvaging Triton parts could help get the crew home.
• [Jun21#ELYx]: Dr. Lady believes the frequent system failures cannot be coincidence.
• [Jun25#ELYx]: Bell insists something is wrong with Stone and wants to speak with Chronos.
• [Jun25#ELYx]: Doctor Stone keeps Bell unaware of his unauthorized LRD work with Dr. Allen.
• [Jun26#ELYx]: Dr. Lady fears Chronos is under too much strain and blames Stone's actions.
• [Jun26#ELYx]: Bell believes Stone may be tied to Triton's loss and wants to stop Elysium from sharing that fate.
• [Jun26#ELYx]: Doctor Stone finds Triton wreckage, disables warning sensors, and searches for Dr. Allen's files.
• [Jun26#ELYx]: Doctor Stone cannot understand the files and cannot find the cipher he made.
• [Oct30#TRIx]: Dr. Allen tells Doctor Stone to keep their channel secure and change frequencies often because Nao watches for unauthorized signals.
• [Nov3#!TRIx]: Dr. Allen hides the LRD in a smaller lab and worries EXO would dismiss both researchers if it found out.
• [Nov28#!TRIx]: Dr. Allen confirms the LRD signal behaves like a homing transmission and has received a distant response.
• [Dec12#TRIx]: Dr. Allen routes the response signal through Triton's communications, prompting the captain to change course under EXO protocol.
• [Dec16#TRIx]: Dr. Allen hears constant whispering, loses sleep, and continues pursuing answers.
• [Dec17#TRIx]: Dr. Allen believes the entity has arrived, knows the crew is present, and is affecting the suit.
• [Nov10#LUN1x]: Bell sets a rule for trainees not to touch her machines.
• [Dec16#LUN1x]: Doctor Stone asks Doctor Allen to resend a message after audio disturbance.
• [ERROR#!00x]: An unknown speaker thinks another Astroneer appeared while collecting Resin, despite expecting to be alone.
• [ERROR#!00x]: Dr. Lady says a partner vanished after entering a strange Gateway on Glacio.
• [ERROR#!00x]: Frank notices the stars and constellations look wrong.
• [ERROR#!00x]: An unknown speaker wakes on Calidor without remembering the landing.
• [ERROR#!00x]: An unknown speaker dreams of a ship crash and questions whether this is truly the first mission.
• [ERROR#!00x]: Frank wonders whether the sun looks wrong or if only he notices it.
• [ERROR#!00x]: Dr. Lady catalogs Vesania specimens but sees Calidor specimens in the Research Chamber.
• [ERROR#!00x]: An unknown speaker hides in caverns, believing the signal and lights cannot reach below ground.
• [ERROR#!00x]: Dr. Lady says EXO is not responding and another base wreck has been found in the Sylva System.
• [ERROR#!00x]: Doctor Stone finds his notes disordered and missing key details.
• [ERROR#!00x]: Doctor Stone feels deja vu while observing with Bell.
• [ERROR#!00x]: Doctor Stone has been assigned to Conductor Bell and expects her to be a capable colleague.
• [ERROR#!00x]: Bell cannot find the report she remembers writing about the anomalies.
• [ERROR#!00x]: Bell angrily receives another call from Stone and hopes it will be the last assignment with him.
• [ERROR#356]: Elysium recovery initializes under Doctor Stone's clearance, but Triton system recovery fails.
• [ERROR#357]: Triton systems are analyzed at 7% capacity and are not viable for reboot.
• [ERROR#358]: A printer reboot starts and fails with corrupted output.
• [ERROR#359]: The system detects an anomaly and an unauthorized airlock breach.
• [ERROR#377]: ESS Triton debris is located, with an option to override safety procedures under Doctor Stone's clearance.
• [ERROR#378]: Cabin pressure becomes unstable and bulkheads must be sealed.
• [ERROR#379]: Manual controls engage, autopilot is suspended, and emergency landing preparation begins.
• [ERROR#380]: Emergency protocol starts and life support activates.
• [ERROR#381]: Training pod power sits at 37% while system integrity fails and reboot is attempted.
• [ERROR#382]: Reboot fails again with corrupted output.
• [ERROR#383]: Manual override activates and asks whether to terminate the training protocol.
• [ERROR#384]: The virtual command center loads through 24%, 32%, and 48%.
• [ERROR#385]: Life support failure reaches a countdown of 12 minutes and 42 seconds.
• [ERROR#386]: Chronos Failsafe Protocol begins.
• [ERROR#387]: Chronos Failsafe Protocol executes and stabilizes systems.
• [ERROR#388]: Elysium Mind Bank Integrity is 43%, with 653 unrecoverable units and 148 units missing data.
• [ERROR#389]: Hazardous Environment Training is offline because storm files are missing data.
• [ERROR#390]: Mind Bank transfer to the Training Program completes, but missing data cannot be recovered.
• [ERROR#391]: LU-C1D systems are stable and Training Program parameters are disabled.
• [ERROR#392]: Training Program Missions are enabled while advanced scenario data is corrupted, with 202x missing files.
• [ERROR#393]: Chronos keysearch processing finds 67 recovered entries.
• N/A: Chronos states this is the only way and that not everyone can be saved.