Moon Sweepers Automation

The packager question is the biggest Moon Sweepers how-to on the public record. This page walks the closed loop, then the sand and stone machines, then the robot that cleans hexes without you.

How the packager works

The Packager costs $100 in the Logistics tab. It is 2.82 by 3.1 metres, holds 100 kg, and has one belt port. Press E to load dust. It packs capsules onto the belt. No power line is required.

Belt to intake

Place the Packager beside the pile you are sweeping.
Load dust with E.
Snap one straight conveyor ($40) from the output toward a station deposit intake.
The intake pays the dust as it arrives. You do not press sell on every capsule.
For sand or stone, aim the belt at a Pressure Chamber instead of the station.

Pressure chamber and stone press

Pressure Chamber is $500, draws 10 kW, and turns 5 kg of dust into sand every 12 seconds. Sand is worth 3 times dust. It holds 20 kg waiting and 10 kg of sand. Stone Press is $1,000, draws 18 kW, and combines 1 kg dust plus 1 kg sand into 2 kg of moon stone every 6 seconds. Stone is worth 7 times dust. A fed press is described as 600 blocks an hour, which is 1,200 kg of stone, $8,400 an hour gross. The inputs would have sold for $2,400, so the press adds about $6,000 an hour when nothing stalls.

Cheapest power for one press is a $75 solar post (3 kW) plus a $300 solar tracker (16 kW), 19 kW for $375. A chamber's 10 kW can be a post plus a $150 solar twin (7.5 kW), 10.5 kW for $225. A second guide asks for at least two trackers per factory so night batteries stay charged. Battery Bank is $160.

Two ratios, not one

Guide	Catchers	Chambers	Presses
Most efficient factory layout	2	4	8
End-game catcher ratio	1	2	5

Sand clogs belts if you carry it by hand one kilogram at a time. Let the press eat the sand before you tear the line down. Patch 1.0.5 snaps machines to foundations and lets belts follow a moved piece. Patch 1.0.4 fixed machines pausing with "Could not pack a capsule".

The six-armed sweeper

The robot players call Joonas costs $20,000 in Services and needs a Capsule Catcher ($1,500, 9.61 m square, 100 kg, pays on catch). It walks the whole moon, nearest dusty hex first, and fires 20 kg capsules at the emptiest catcher in the nearest group after 1.0.5. Patch 1.0.4 made it twice as fast, stopped the dock trips, and let it work with no player nearby. There is still no published time for one robot to finish the moon, so I do not print a 1-versus-16 robot chart.

Questions

How do you connect a belt to an intake so it sells itself?

Load the $100 Packager, run one conveyor from its output to a station deposit intake, and the intake pays as capsules arrive.

How fast does one six-armed sweeper clean the moon?

No public kilograms-per-minute figure exists. It cleans the nearest dusty hex first, fires 20 kg capsules, and patch 1.0.4 doubled its speed and removed dock trips.

What ratio of catchers to presses should I build?

One Steam guide uses 2 catchers, 4 chambers, 8 presses. Another uses 1 catcher, 2 chambers, 5 presses. I print both and do not average them.

Sources

Fextralife — Packager — checked 2026-11-02
Fextralife — Stone Press — checked 2026-11-02
Steam guide — factory layout — checked 2026-11-02
Steam guide — catcher ratio — checked 2026-11-02