Earth in Starfield explained
Everything we know about Earth in Starfield.
Earth in Starfield has an interesting backstory for those invested in how humans fared before zipping about space and settling other planets.
If you're curious, we've detailed what happened to Earth in Starfield below, along with a short explainer on how to get to Earth, and what you can do on its surface once you make the journey.
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If you’d like more help in your galactic adventures, visit our Starfield guides, tips and tricks page.
Is Earth in Starfield?
Yes, Earth is in Starfield, even though humanity has abandoned it in favour of settling less hostile environments in places like New Atlantis on the planet Jemison.
Why is Earth such a hostile environment now? Well...
What happened to Earth in Starfield?
What was once the 'Blue Planet' is now one big desert because Earth lost its atmosphere. It didn't happen immediately, so humanity had about 50 years to evacuate. According to Sarah Morgan, these efforts helped start the United Colonies Government as they were "managing the exodus".
As this happened a few centuries ago in Starfield's current timeline, there are even some people who don't believe Earth exists, as mentioned by Supervisor Lin at the beginning of the game.
How to get to Earth in Starfield
You can actually travel to Earth very early in the game, as we visited Earth ourselves during Starfield's second mission, The Old Neighbourhood. However, to get to Earth you need to have enough fuel for your ship. How much fuel you need depends on how far away you are from the 'Sol' star system.
So, to get to Earth in Starfield you have to:
- Open the Starmap
- Zoom out to the star systems view
- Select Sol, find Earth and hold the 'Jump' button
- Zoomed in on Earth, select 'Set Landing Target' anywhere on Earth's surface
- Land on Earth!
There are no settlements or set places to land on Earth unless you discover it some other way with side content, which is why you can just set a landing target anywhere and go exploring.
You can also scan Earth before landing to see what resources it has and further your Survey progress, and if you have the Astrophysics Skill you might also discover Earth's Trait when scanning. The Higher your rank in Astrophysics, the more likely you are to discover a planetary Trait (and you can scan planets and moons from further away).
Just be careful when exploring Earth's surface, as it may give you the 'Extreme Solar Radiation' Status Effect. Equipping different spacesuits and consuming the correct Aid items can help keep this effect at bay while exploring.
Things to do on Earth
Earth in Starfield is not a very resource-rich planet, nor is it filled with much to do or find. However, there are still a few remnants of the old world to be explored.
Collect Snowglobes
As part of the Unearthed quest, you'll come across the NASA Launch Tower in Cape Canaveral - at it you'll find a Snowglobe. And as you explore the Galaxy, you'll come across a number of books that give you the locations for more of Earth's landmarks. These include:
- The Shard (London Landmark)
- The US Bank Tower (Los Angeles Landmark)
- The Shanghai Tower (Shanghai Landmark)
- The International Commerce Center (Hong Kong Landmark)
- The Abeno Harukas (Osaka Landmark)
- The Gateway Arch (St. Louis Landmark)
- The Burj Khalifa (Dubai Landmark)
- The Empire State Building (New York Landmark)
- The Pyramids (Cairo Landmark)
At each location you'll find a Snowglobe. Once you've grabbed them all, head to the Moon landing point for another, and then Mars for the final Snowglobe. You won't get anything useful by collecting all the Snowglobes, but it's a good way to explore our home planet.
Collect resources
If you're after some materials while exploring, here's what resources you can find on Earth:
- Chlorine
- Dysprosium
- Iron
- Lead
- Water
Other features
While on our travels, we also came across an Iron Meteorite Geophysical feature, and the Covered Crater and Sludge Pools areas. These named areas just seem to be more likely to have resources in them, as there was nothing else worth noting when we examined them.
However, there might be other missions or activites that involve Earth that we haven't come across yet, so perhaps the surface gets more exciting while progressing with main and side content!