No Man’s Sky: How to Get Isotope Elements and What They Do

Isotope Elements – No Man’s Sky

While playing No Man’s Sky you’ll come across many different types of elements and resources. The most important ones are categorized into groups, with one of the main ones being Isotopes. Isotopes are elements that have a red background in their image and are used primarily for charging technology that requires energy, such as:

• Minelaser
• Boltcaster
• Plasma Launcher
• Launch Thrusters
• Pulse Drive
• Life Support

Finding Isotopes is relatively easy, although finding certain specific ones can be a bit challenging. To locate Isotopes in your area, you’ll want to scan (L3) and look for the red and white energy symbols. These mark the locations of isotopes including:

• Carbon
• Plutonium
• Thamium9

Carbon is normally found in most trees and plants. Plutonium is found in red crystals, and Thamium9 is found in a specific flower as well as bronze-ish asteroids while in space. The other two can be found in space as well in different asteroids. Most technologies that require Isotope charging can use any of the above, but your Thrusters require Plutonium and your Pulse Drive needs Thamium9.

Isotopes are also used in some crafting blueprints as well as for feeding certain animals. It’s a good idea to keep a stack of at least one type of Isotope on your Exosuit, and one of each type in your Starship’s cargo.

Now that you’ve got that settled, check out our No Man’s Sky wiki for all of your other space adventure needs.