2765: Escape Speed/Tables

Here the long tables needed for the explanation of the interactive comic 2765: Escape Speed could be moved.

Table of planets

This explanation may be incomplete or incorrect: This is a different attempt to list and explain all the planets and other objects that have gravity and can be landed upon and explored. The description and explanations may be incomplete or incorrect. Please help improve them. Try to keep separate the description (i.e. how the planet looks and what general features it has) and explanation (i.e. what the name and look represent, what they refer to both in the real and fictional worlds and what XKCD comics may have been a source or an inspiration. Please describe the planets only, not the objects that can be found on them. If you can address this issue, please edit the page! Thanks.

Planets and Planet-like Objects
Name code-name	Tiles (X, Y)	Directions	Description	Explanation
Starting Planet tiny-world	(6024, -8976)	To get here, click the "Home" button in the lower right corner of the comic.	The planet is tiny, grassy, has a few trees and bushes and features several people. Initially the navigation is difficult because of low initial engine thrust and strong gravity of the Origin planet nearby affecting movement.	This is where the game starts. Pressing the "Home" button to go back to the starting planet shows the message, "Welcome back, pilot", which may be a reference to the greeting that plays when re-entering a Titan in the Titanfall video games.
Origin origin	(3096, -5904)	To get here, launch from Beret Guy saying "Wow!" on the Starting Planet.	The planet is fairly big, has vegetation, and features many people, landscape objects, items and upgrades. It has a shaft through the center. The planet is hard to leave without any upgrades unless one uses the shaft to gain more momentum by thrusting while moving through the middle of it. Many of the landmarks of the surface mark the directions to different planets.	The planet has a sign saying 'Welcome to Origin! You can never leave™'. The name may also refer to the fact that the planet lies almost at the center of the game world, or that it is the starting point for exploration as it provides many navigational hints.
Hollow Planet hollow-shell	(-13952, 1848)	To get here, launch from the St. Louis Arch on Origin.	The planet is just a shell with some gaps. On the outside, there are a few signs that mark the directions to different planets.
Round Planet orb	(-19154, -7288)	To get here, launch from the tower with an orb on it on Origin or the sign on the Hollow Planet.	The planet is moderately small with no vegetation and some architecture such as Stonehenge and the Great Wall of China. It also features a few people and items.
Uzumaki uzumaki	(-3904, -26904)	To get here, launch from Origin's spiral landmark, the sign on the Hollow Planet, or below the plane-towed banner on the Round Planet.	The planet is a large spiral overgrown with grass and some other vegetation. It has very weak gravity.	The shape of the planet is inspired by the manga Uzumaki by Junji Ito.
Guitar Ship guitar-ship	(-12000, -30000)	To get there, launch from Uzumaki, a little to the left of the caffeine molecule item.	The planet is shaped like a guitar seen in perspective looking from the bottom of the body, with a dome on the back side. Within the dome there's the Boston skyline.	This is a reference to the cover art of the album Boston by the like-named American rock band. It's one of many references to Boston in the game.
Spacetime Soccer Field soccerfield	(6048, 4048)	To get here, launch from Origin, from the pyramid with a soccer ball on top of it.	This is a tiny planet with a smooth surface and a distorted soccer field marked around it. The goals and goal area lines are on the opposite sides of the planet (let's say, to the east and west), distorted into curved trapezoids. The touch lines (side lines) are sections of hyperbolas with the vertices closest to the planet at the north and south poles, extending symmetrically to some distance from the planet. There is no goal line; in this geometry it should be the extended axis. What seems to be penalty lines, but drawn incorrectly to join the side lines instead of going back to the goal line, are sections of an ellipse. The halfway line appears twice, joining the four ends of hyperbolic side lines. The center circle appears as two separate halves stemming from the two copies of the halfway line.	The space soccer field utilizes the concept from 2705: Spacetime Soccer, but inversed: in the original comic the center point of the field was located in a gravity well, causing the ball to be pulled away from the goals; here the goals are located close to the center of the planet, so the ball naturally tries to fall towards them, probably making the game more interesting.
Saturn saturn	(2600, 14000)	To get here, launch from the pyramid with Saturn on it on Origin. If you see the Spacetime Soccer Field, you're too far left.	The planet resembles Saturn with its rings, however it is translucent: a soccer ball can bee seen inside. One of the ball's white hexagons is surfacing in the north pole area.	It is a reference to 2513: Saturn Hexagon
Andal platform-planet	(12048, 14048)	To get there launch from a monument on Origin, featuring a round shape with a small "T" on top.	This is a small partly rocky and partly grassy planet with a strange T-shaped tower.	A reference to Animorphs book series featuring fictional sapient species of Andalites. Two such (or similar) creatures can be found on the planet. In the original books, the planet the Andalites come from is unnamed.
Projection of Earth earth-map	(-15808, 22192)	To get there by follow the sign on the hollow planet or launch from the Earth map monument on Origin.	The planet is shaped like a huge distorted map of all land masses of Earth. The player's spaceship can fly where water would be, but it can't go over land. Some straights between islands are to narrow for the ship to pass, especially in the Southeast Asia area. Some mediterranean seas are also inaccessible.	Probably a reference to 977: Map Projections or, more generally, to the Randall's obsession about maps.
Voyager 1 voyager-1	(1606, -14282)	To get here, launch from the "Receiving transmission" communication device near the spiral landmark on Origin.	This is a recreation of the Voyager 1 space probe.
Voyager 2 voyager-2	(10682, -5172)	To get here, launch from the "Receiving transmission" communication device near the spider landmark on Origin.	This is a recreation of the Voyager 2 space probe.
SafetySat safetysat	(17024, 1024)	To get here, launch from the cell tower on Origin.	A cube satellite with an absurd set of assorted objects on board.	This is a reference to 1992: SafetySat.
Shuttle Skeleton space-shuttle	(-30200, 14576)	To get here, launch from the Shuttle Skeleton landmark on Origin or in the northwestern direction from Alaska on the Projection of Earth.	The planet looks like an outline of the space shuttle with a strange skeleton inside.	This is a reference to 2630: Shuttle Skeleton.
Giant Spider spider	(26982, -8714)	To get here, launch from the spider landmark on Origin.	The object is a giant spider floating in space with eight people standing on top of his legs.	Spiders is a recurring theme on xkcd.
Diffraction Spikes Star diffraction	(-19944, 11240)	To get here, launch from the back of the left "hand" of the Shuttle Skeleton or the north of Alaska.	The object is a star with very long spikes.	This is a reference to 2762: Diffraction Spikes.
Roche Lobe Earth earth-roche and normal-moon	(-9952, -3952)	To get there, launch from the like-shaped statue on Origin.	This is a small, distorted, drop-shaped Earth with oceans and continents of the northern hemisphere. There's the Moon close by. The distortion looks like if the Moon's tidal forces are pulling northern Atlantic Ocean really hard.
Dark Matter Planet dark-matter	(-2892, 2640)	To get here, launch from the goal on the half of the field with just one person on it on Spacetime Soccer Field.	This is a small, irregular planet with a black center (normal planets have white centers) and an inscription "DARK MATTER" inside, repeated three times.	Dark matter is a hypothetical form of matter sought by astrophycists as a possible cause of behavior of galaxies, which cannot be explained by the current theory of gravity and observations. The anomalies would be explained if there was extra mass in the galaxies, which is not observed, but is theorized as dark matter presence. The dark matter is named this way not because it has some dark color, but because it supposedly does not interact (or interacts very weakly) with electromagnetic field, therefore does not emit light and can't be seen. This is also a reference to 2186: Dark Matter
Jurassic Park Planet gravity-qwantz	(20000, 11000)	To get here, launch from the dinosaur on Origin or from the Andalites on Andal.	It's a big planet with weak gravity, a lot of grass, and many dinosaur figures, some repeating a few times.	This is a reference to the 1993 Jurassic Park film and the related media franchise. It contains images of dinosaurs taken from the Dinosaurs web comic, which, similarly to xkcd, uses a random string of letters for its domain name: quantz.com. It also reflects Randal's avid interest in dinosaurs. This is an exact copy of the Dinosaur Planet from 2712: Gravity.
Comet 67P 67p	(18048, -11152)	To get here, launch from the duck next to the 'Caution: long vertical drop' sign on Origin.	This is a small, potato-shaped body, modelled after the 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko comet.	This is a reference to the 2004–2016 Rosetta spacecraft mission, which was the first to place a lander (Philae) on a comet core. The mission was also commemorated in 1446: Landing and the spacecraft are mentioned in 1402: Harpoons and 1740: Rosetta.
What If? Planet gravity-earth	(22000, 34000)	To get here, launch from the two people explaining where Boston is on Origin, the left of Stonehenge on the Round Planet, or the left rim of the Guitar Ship.	This is a huge, round planet with many bodies of water. The planet contains several scenes from what if? and 2712: Gravity. Megan and Cueball are floating inside a small space in the center of the planet.	This is an almost exact copy of the Earth planet from 2712: Gravity, however a few scenes and all text were removed.
Subway Planet subway-planet and black-hole-3	(-46000, -24000)	To can get there take off from the "secret glade" item next to the the bush where someone says "Shhh" on Origin.	This is a huge planet with a subway system connecting places named after U.S. cities, similar to the one from 1196: Subways. In the area where Boston should be according to that system, there is a giant round hole with rugged sides consisting of a lot of broken planks. There's a black hole inside, off the center, in the Washington, D.C. area. There are many people and features both on the surface and within subway tunnels.	This is a key planet to solve the puzzle in the game, and contains several out of many in-game references to Boston (in many meanings of the name) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which currently is located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, but was founded in 1861 in Boston. Obviously, it's also a reference to 1196: Subways
Boston Planet mbta	(-42000, 8000)	To get here, launch from the back of the Shuttle Skeleton.	This is a big, perfectly round planet with a subway system. It is invisible until the player finds uncloaking device switch. Initially, all underground tunnels are blocked by huge round rocks with the letter "T" at the entrances and smaller round rocks down the tunnels. To unblock the tunnels, player needs to find subway tokens scattered in the universe; they appear only after the Boston planet is uncloaked. Subway stations on the surface and inside are marked with Boston district names.	This is the other key planet to the game puzzle. It is apparently the round part ripped off the Subway Planet, but drawn not to scale. The tunnels inside the planet roughly correspond to the Boston part of the scheme in 1196: Subways, but with few additions (e.g. Union Sq, Mattapan). The codename comes from the abbreviation of Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.
Crystal Sphere from ring-1 to ring-36		To get here, launch from anywhere and keep avoiding planets until you hit it.	Most planets and celestial objects are inside of a thick enormous ring called Crystal Sphere. Both the interior and exterior edges of the Sphere are almost smooth, but have a few dents. There's a wide navigable crack leading out of the Sphere, which sides are rugged and riddled with broken planks, similarily to the Boston hole in the Subwau Planet. The gravity increases significantly as the spaceship goes through the crack, it gradually feels the pull from the parts of the sphere it has left. It is not possible to leave the Sphere without the hyperdrive, however having collected all the engine upgrades inside the Sphere one can barely reach the outer surface, but moving along is very difficult. Above the crack, there is an arch made up of the repeating words "The End", which is reminiscent of the "Don't leave the play area" message in 1608: Hoverboard that appeared when the player tried to get out of it.	The Crystal Sphere may be a reference to The Crystal Spheres, a short story by science fiction author David Brin, which suggests that each star with habitable planets in the universe is surrounded by a crystal sphere that can be broken only from the inside and is otherwise completely impenetrable. It may also be a reference to celestial spheres, an early concept trying to explain apparent movement of planets and stars.
Star Destroyer from star-destroyer-a to star-destroyer-i	(18192, -130000)	To get here, launch from the crack in the Crystal Sphere.	This is a gigantic starship; it could have barely fit within the Crystal Sphere. It is located out of the Sphere, right up from the crack, but it can't be reached without the Hyperdrive. It has many corridors and chambers inside, and a lot of people, objects and other features both inside and outside of it. The gravity of the Sphere is still strong around here, but the starship has its own center of gravity; the "down" direction generally points towards the ventral part of the starship, but not quite, making orientation somewhat difficult as the surfaces supposed to be level seem to tilt to the left near the stern and to the right near the bow of the starship. Below it, down a stream of torpedoes fired from a turred, there's a much smaller starhip.	This is a reference to Star Destroyers and the CR90 Corellian corvette, spaceships from the fictional Star Wars universe. The whole scene is copied from 1608: Hoverboard, with the only difference being that Darth Vader's dialogue was changed from referencing Steven Universe to The Murderbot Diaries.
Click and Drag Planet clickdrag-nw, clickdrag-ne, clickdrag-sw, and clickdrag-se	(-31808, 111808)	To get here, launch from the bow or stern of the Star Destroyer tangentially to the Crystal Sphere to orbit it and keep the stars in the background moving horizontally on the screen until you see a dot around the spaceship guiding you.	The planet is huge, larger than any other in the game world, but smaller than the Star Destroyer. It is located outside the Crystal Sphere roughly opposite the Star Destroyer. It is mostly round, with many landscape features and scenes partly copied from 1110: Click and Drag, but arrayed in a circular, instead of linear shape. What's missing in comparison to the Click and Drag comic, is a few of the scenes, some textual content like dialogues (leaving persons intact), the underground parts, upper parts of the very high objects, and objects high above the surface.

Tables and Lists of Objects

Collectables

Plain list of collectables

This is a quick list for those who want to check if they found everything.

The You found... sections directly show the names that appear in the player's list of found items. Some upgrades are also items and appear on the list, in such cases the names are the bolded parts of messages.

• Starting Planet
  • You found...
    • a rock with neat stripes
    • a cool bug
    • a pretty leaf
  • Messages
    • Wheeee!

• Origin
  • You found...
    • a secret glade
    • a holographic Charizard business card
    • a 5G seagull
    • a DVD of The Core (2003)
    • a normal-looking leaf
    • a marsh wren
    • an orb wren
    • a single grain of salt
    • 11 squares packed into a larger square
    • a tumbleweed
  • Upgrades
    • Nice flying! (Your tanks recharge faster now.)
  • Messages
    • You found a tiny meteorite!
    • Welcome to liminal space
    • The St. Louis arch is also known as the gateway to space.
    • Be careful; this roller coaster can be disorienting!

• Hollow Planet
  • Upgrades
    • You found a handful of the quantum foam that makes up the fabric of space! (Your tanks recharge much faster now.)
    • You found a sixth Lagrange point! (Your thrusters are more efficient now.)
    • You found a glass of heavy water (Your engine gets a little more powerful.)

• Star Destroyer
  • You found...
    • an unread email (The message adds: "Better leave it unread.")
    • a glass slipper with a glass foot in it
    • a lymphocyte
    • a forged resume
    • a serif
    • a Bursa of Fabricius
    • a cluster of data points
    • a premium subscription to food (The message has: "food.net")
    • two goats and a new car
    • an out-of-control trolley
    • a helium-238 nucleus
    • the Death Star plans
  • Upgrades
    • You found a perpetual motion fidget spinner! (Your tanks recharge a bit faster now.)
    • You found a vintage Juicero juicer! (Your thrusters are more efficient now.)
  • Messages
    • Hmmm.

• Click and Drag Planet
  • You found...
    • an ant the size of Rhode Island
    • a pin with 17 angels dancing on it
  • Upgrades
    • The vehicle below gives you a boost (Your launch speed has increased.)
    • We should turn back (Your engine gets a bit more powerful.)
    • You found an expert at underwater ropes. (Your thrusters are more efficient now.)
    • You found a trisected angle! (Your launch speed has greatly increased.)

• Subway Planet
  • You found...
    • a relativistic bowling ball
    • a Cybiko® wireless handheld computer for teens (2000)
    • a handful of quantum foam
    • a normal-sized apple
  • Upgrades
    • You get the feeling you're not in Kansas anymore (Your tanks recharge a bit faster now.)
    • There is no parking in the white zone (Your thrusters are more efficient now.)
    • The next stop is Interplanetary Terminal G (Your engine gets a little more powerful.)
    • You feel accomplished (Your engine gets a little more powerful.)
    • You found a brightly-lit billboard (Your thrusters are more efficient now.)
    • You found a hot dog (Your launch speed has increased.)
    • You found a bottle of Coke Absolute Zero! (Your thrusters are more efficient now.)
    • You found a beige electron! (Your engine gets a little more powerful.)
    • You found $30 in Yahoo! cash! (Your engine gets a little more powerful.)
    • You found a friendly cat! (Your engine gets a little more powerful.)
  • Messages
    • Transfer here for Mornington Crescent
  • Tokens
    • MIT Cloaking Device deactivated! Boston detected. (Blue, red, green, and orange lines activated.)

• Boston Planet
  • You found...
    • a strangely heavy subway token
  • Tokens
    • Blue line deactivated!
    • Welcome to MIT! You acquired a hyperdrive!
• Projection of Earth
  • You found...
    • the Heart of the Ocean (The message adds: "It was drifting around in space.")
    • a whale shark
    • some microbial life
    • some tin from the Pantai Remis mine
    • a sparkling gem
    • a piece of pumice (The message says: "You found a piece of pumice floating in space!")
  • Upgrades
    • You found the Principality of Sealand! (Your engine gets a little more powerful.)
    • You found a Rhode Island the size of an ant! (Your engine gets a little more powerful.)
    • You found an icosahedral d10 (Your engine gets a little more powerful.)
  • Tokens
    • Red line deactivated!

• What If? Planet
  • You found...
    • an eye in the sky
    • a stick
    • an asterisk (The message adds: "it doesn’t seem to refer to anything.")
    • a sterile neutrino
    • a secret leaf
    • a pair of squirrel goggles
    • a large hadron
    • a smooth green snake
  • Upgrades
    • You found a sunken treasure (Your thrusters are more efficient now.)
    • The Yellowstone Super What? (Your launch speed has increased.)
    • Nutritional Facts - Serving Size: 1 Cloud, Total Calories: 0 (Your engine gets a little more powerful.)
    • You captured the flag! You decide to leave it there, but it's yours. (Your engine gets a little more powerful.)
    • You found a steam calliope! (Your engine gets a little more powerful.)
    • You found a DNA base pair! (Your engine gets a little more powerful.)

• Uzumaki
  • You found...
    • a golden radio tuned to 1.618 MHz
    • a scroll lock key
    • a primordial black hole
    • a cool pair of shoes with flames on the side
    • an ink cartridge
    • a podcast episode
    • a festive but somehow unnerving holiday card from Junji Ito
    • a friendly bee
    • a spiral-cut diamond
    • a burrito
  • Upgrades
    • You found a tree-filled grove and a nice spot for quiet contemplation (Your thrusters are significantly more efficient now.)
    • You found a single caffeine molecule! (Your tanks recharge a bit faster now.)
  • Messages
    • Exit Only
    • You're going the wrong way!

• Round Planet
  • You found...
    • a swatch pop-out wristwatch
  • Upgrades
    • You found a sensible cheese platter (Your tanks recharge a bit faster now)
    • [no message] (Your engine gets a little more powerful.)

• Jurassic Park Planet
  • You found...
    • a tiny pteranodon
    • a baby hedgehog
    • a tattered knapsack containing about $194,00 in $20 bills
  • Upgrades
    • Today is a good day I think for space exploration (Your engine gets a little more powerful.)
    • But what if gravity doesn't actually exist? (Your tanks recharge a bit faster now.)

• Andal
  • Upgrades
    • You found two Andalites, one canonical! (Your thrusters are more efficient now.)
    • What a nice place for a ship to sit! (Your tanks recharge a bit faster now.)
    • You found a friend (Your thrusters are more efficient now.)
    • You found baby shoes (and baby)! (Your engine gets a little more powerful.)

• Comet 67P
  • Upgrades
    • Some people believe that when the Earth appears in the sky, it's a harbinger of doom. (Your tanks recharge a bit faster now.)
    • You found a broken smoke machine (Your engine gets a little more powerful.)
    • Anyone for Scrabble later? (Your engine gets a little more powerful.)
    • You found The Long Now Foundation's nickel paperweight containing an archive of every published Animorphs book! (Your launch speed has increased.)

• Guitar Ship
  • You found...
    • a guitar pick
  • Tokens
    • Orange line deactivated!

• Saturn
  • You found...
    • a really cool data point
  • Upgrades
    • You found a pair of platonic solids, not quite touching! (Your engine gets a little more powerful.)
    • You found a block of scandium! (Your engine gets a little more powerful.)

• Roche Lobe Earth
  • You found...
    • a curious Humboldt squid
    • a bathyscaphe (The message says: "You found a bathyscaphe at the Marianas Trench!")
    • a wayward Roomba full of moondust
  • Tokens
    • Green line deactivated!

• Giant Spider
  • You found...
    • a spider-silk scarf
  • Upgrades
    • You found a friendly jumping spider (Your engine gets a little more powerful.)

• Dark Matter Planet
  • Upgrades
    • You found a delicate music box. (Your engine gets a little more powerful.)

• Shuttle Skeleton
  • You found...
    • a piece of space shuttle food
  • Upgrades
    • A little upgrade works wonders on fuel efficiency (Your thrusters are more efficient now.)

• Diffraction Spikes Star
  • You found...
    • a hydrogen ion
    • a piece of coronium (iron) (The message says; "You found a piece of coronium! Wait, no, iron.")

• SafetySat
  • You found...
    • a first of its kind
  • Upgrades
    • [no message] (Your thrusters are more efficient now.)
    • The more refined oil had a dinner engagement (Your thrusters are more efficient now.)

• Spacetime Soccer Field
  • Upgrades
    • GOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLL!!! (Your thrusters are more efficient now.)
    • GOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLL!!! (Your engine gets a little more powerful.)
    • You found the 3 million point line (Your thrusters are more efficient now.)
    • You found a sunspot! (Your launch speed has increased.)

• Voyager 1
  • Upgrades
    • You found Voyager 1! Some of its great speed rubs off on you. (Your engine thrust has increased significantly.)

• Voyager 2
  • Upgrades
    • You found Voyager 2! Some of its great speed rubs off on you. (Your engine thrust has increased significantly.)

• Crystal Sphere
  • You found...
    • a necklace of element samples whose symbols spell out your name (The message adds: "(note: hopefully you are not named 'katherine' or 'Brandon')!")
    • the platinum cylinder formerly used to define the kilogram
  • Upgrades
    • A significant boost to the engines for a curious pilot (Your engine thrust has increased significantly.)
    • You found the gold crown Archimedes stole! (Your engine thrust has increased significantly.)

• Crack in the Crystal Sphere
  • Upgrades
    • There is a way out (Your launch speed has increased.)
  • Messages
    • Right lane must turn right
    • Left lane must turn left

• Open Space Outside the Crystal Sphere
  • Upgrades
    • It is very lonely out here (Your tanks recharge much faster now.)
    • You found a needle in a haystack (Your engine gets a little more powerful.)
    • From here you can view the source of it all. (Your thrusters are more efficient now.)

Sortable table of collectables

Planet	Collectable items
	You found...	Upgrades	Messages	Subway tokens
Starting Planet	a rock with neat stripes a cool bug a pretty leaf		Wheeee!
Origin	a secret glade a holographic Charizard business card a 5G seagull a DVD of The Core (2003) a normal-looking leaf a marsh wren an orb wren a single grain of salt 11 squares packed into a larger square a tumbleweed	Nice flying! (Your tanks recharge faster now.)	You found a tiny meteorite! Welcome to liminal space The St. Louis arch is also known as the gateway to space. Be careful; this roller coaster can be disorienting!
Hollow Planet		You found a handful of the quantum foam that makes up the fabric of space! (Your engine gets a little more powerful.) You found a sixth Lagrange point! (Your thrusters are more efficient now.) You found a glass of heavy water (Your engine gets a little more powerful.)
Star Destroyer	an unread email a glass slipper with a glass foot in it a lymphocyte a forged resume a serif a Bursa of Fabricius a cluster of data points a premium subscription to food two goats and a new car an out-of-control trolley a helium-238 nucleus the Death Star plans	You found a perpetual motion fidget spinner! (Your tanks recharge a bit faster now.) You found a vintage Juicero juicer! (Your thrusters are more efficient now.)	Hmmm.
Click and Drag Planet	an ant the size of Rhode Island a pin with 17 angels dancing on it	The vehicle below gives you a boost (Your launch speed has increased.) We should turn back (Your engine gets a bit more powerful.) You found an expert at underwater ropes. (Your thrusters are more efficient now.) You found a trisected angle! (Your launch speed has greatly increased.)
Subway Planet	a relativistic bowling ball a Cybiko® wireless handheld computer for teens (2000) a handful of quantum foam a normal-sized apple	You get the feeling you're not in Kansas anymore (Your tanks recharge a bit faster now.) There is no parking in the white zone (Your thrusters are more efficient now.) The next stop is Interplanetary Terminal G (Your engine gets a little more powerful.) You feel accomplished (Your engine gets a little more powerful.) You found a brightly-lit billboard (Your thrusters are more efficient now.) You found a hot dog (Your launch speed has increased.) You found a bottle of Coke Absolute Zero! (Your thrusters are more efficient now.) You found a beige electron! (Your engine gets a little more powerful.) You found $30 in Yahoo! cash! (Your engine gets a little more powerful.) You found a friendly cat! (Your engine gets a little more powerful.)	Transfer here for Mornington Crescent	MIT Cloaking Device deactivated! Boston detected. (Blue, red, green, and orange lines activated.)
Boston Planet	a strangely heavy subway token			Blue line deactivated! Welcome to MIT! You acquired a hyperdrive!
Projection of Earth	the Heart of the Ocean a whale shark some microbial life some tin from the Pantai Remis mine a sparkling gem a piece of pumice	You found the Principality of Sealand! (Your engine gets a little more powerful.) You found a Rhode Island the size of an ant! (Your engine gets a little more powerful.) You found an icosahedral d10 (Your engine gets a little more powerful.)		Red line deactivated!
What If? Planet	an eye in the sky a stick an asterisk a sterile neutrino a secret leaf a pair of squirrel goggles a large hadron a smooth green snake	You found a sunken treasure (Your thrusters are more efficient now.) The Yellowstone Super What? (Your launch speed has increased.) Nutritional Facts - Serving Size: 1 Cloud, Total Calories: 0 (Your engine gets a little more powerful.) You captured the flag! You decide to leave it there, but it's yours. (Your engine gets a little more powerful.) You found a steam calliope! (Your engine gets a little more powerful.) You found a DNA base pair! (Your engine gets a little more powerful.)
Uzumaki	a golden radio tuned to 1.618 MHz a scroll lock key a primordial black hole a cool pair of shoes with flames on the side an ink cartridge a podcast episode a festive but somehow unnerving holiday card from Junji Ito a friendly bee a spiral-cut diamond a burrito	You found a tree-filled grove and a nice spot for quiet contemplation (Your thrusters are significantly more efficient now.) You found a single caffeine molecule! (Your tanks recharge a bit faster now.)	Exit Only You're going the wrong way!
Round Planet	a swatch pop-out wristwatch	You found a sensible cheese platter (Your tanks recharge a bit faster now) [no message] (Your engine gets a little more powerful.)
Jurassic Park Planet	a tiny pteranodon a baby hedgehog a tattered knapsack containing about $194,00 in $20 bills	Today is a good day I think for space exploration (Your engine gets a little more powerful.) But what if gravity doesn't actually exist? (Your tanks recharge a bit faster now.)
Andal		You found two Andalites, one canonical! (Your thrusters are more efficient now.) What a nice place for a ship to sit! (Your tanks recharge a bit faster now.) You found a friend (Your thrusters are more efficient now.) You found baby shoes (and baby)! (Your engine gets a little more powerful.)
Comet 67P		Some people believe that when the Earth appears in the sky, it's a harbinger of doom. (Your tanks recharge a bit faster now.) You found a broken smoke machine (Your engine gets a little more powerful.) Anyone for Scrabble later? (Your engine gets a little more powerful.) You found The Long Now Foundation's nickel paperweight containing an archive of every published Animorphs book! (Your launch speed has increased.)
Guitar Ship	a guitar pick			Orange line deactivated!
Saturn	a really cool data point	You found a pair of platonic solids, not quite touching! (Your engine gets a little more powerful.) You found a block of scandium! (Your engine gets a little more powerful.)
Roche Lobe Earth	a curious Humboldt squid a bathyscaphe a wayward Roomba full of moondust			Green line deactivated!
Giant Spider	a spider-silk scarf	You found a friendly jumping spider (Your engine gets a little more powerful.)
Dark Matter Planet		You found a delicate music box. (Your engine gets a little more powerful.)
Shuttle Skeleton	a piece of space shuttle food	A little upgrade works wonders on fuel efficiency (Your thrusters are more efficient now.)
Diffraction Spikes Star	a hydrogen ion a piece of coronium (iron)
SafetySat	a first of its kind	[no message] (Your thrusters are more efficient now.) The more refined oil had a dinner engagement (Your thrusters are more efficient now.)
Spacetime Soccer Field		GOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLL!!! (Your thrusters are more efficient now.) GOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLL!!! (Your engine gets a little more powerful.) You found the 3 million point line (Your thrusters are more efficient now.) You found a sunspot! (Your launch speed has increased.)
Voyager 1		You found Voyager 1! Some of its great speed rubs off on you. (Your engine thrust has increased significantly.)
Voyager 2		You found Voyager 2! Some of its great speed rubs off on you. (Your engine thrust has increased significantly.)
Crystal Sphere	a necklace of element samples whose symbols spell out your name the platinum cylinder formerly used to define the kilogram	A significant boost to the engines for a curious pilot (Your engine thrust has increased significantly.) You found the gold crown Archimedes stole! (Your engine thrust has increased significantly.)
Crack in the Crystal Sphere		There is a way out (Your launch speed has increased.)	Right lane must turn right Left lane must turn left
Open Space Outside the Crystal Sphere		It is very lonely out here (Your tanks recharge much faster now.) You found a needle in a haystack (Your engine gets a little more powerful.) From here you can view the source of it all. (Your thrusters are more efficient now.)

All Objects with Explanations

Features and Items
Planet	Type	Location	Description / Message	Explanation
Starting Planet	Message	Above starting position	Wheeee!	Probably reflects the excitation of a new visitor to this XKCD comic, seeing a promising game.
	Item	Above ground left of the starting position	a rock with neat stripes
	Item	In the grass right of the starting position	a cool bug	A reference to 'Cool Bug Epoch' from 2240: Timeline of the Universe
	Item	Up a tree	a pretty leaf
	People	On the opposite of the starting position	Beret Guy pointing his arm up and exclaiming WOW!	This is a reference to the title text of 1117: My Sky, and it could also be a reference to 502: Dark Flow.
Origin	Landscape	Close to the Starting Planet	A sign saying: Welcome to Origin! You can never leave™	The sign names the planet, and also indicates that it is not possible to leave it by just launching off the surface during early gameplay, when the player has not collected any upgrades. May be a reference to the song by The Eagles: "Hotel California".
	Message	Right of the welcome sign, above the rollercoaster	Be careful; this roller coaster can be disorienting!	A hint for the hidden shaft going through the planet; one of the entries is right below here.
	Landscape	On the right side of the rollercoaster	A sign saying: Caution: Long vertical drop	Another hint for the hidden shaft.
	Landscape	To the right of the rollercoaster	A spider-shaped monument	Marks the direction to the Giant Spider planet
	Landscape	To the right of the spider monument	A radio telescope with its antenna pointed straight up. Receiving transmission.	Marks the direction to Voyager 2. The message is an additional hint as radio telescopes are often used to communicate with distant space probes, including receiving probes' measurements and other scientific data, like photos.
	People	Right next to the cell tower	Cueball and White Hat talking. Cueball: I bet the voyager spacecraft could teach you a thing or two about speed. Of course, you'd have to catch up to them first...	Voyager spacecraft are not among the speed record holding space probes as of 2023, however they are the first in history to reach Solar System's escape velocity. They have also executed two gravity assist maneuvers each, so they are good examples on how to increase speed in this way, presumably allowing them to "teach" another spacecraft how to increase speed. Cueball's metaphor goes on to having to meet (catch up with) someone in order to learn something from him. The Voyagers are currently the farthest man-made objects in space; however in the game world they are quite close to the Origin planet. This is also a hint regarding the upgrades located near both Voyager spacecraft, which add more thrust to the player's ship than regular thrust upgrades.
	Landscape	To the right from the radio telescope located near the spider monument	A cell tower with 5G antennas. On top of it a strange object is mounted.	The strange object is a downscaled image of cube satellite from 1992: SafetySat. Normally nobody puts cube satellites on top of fixed towers. This landmark shows the direction to the SafetySat "planet".
	Item	Next to the top of the cell tower	a 5G seagull	5G is a modern emerging standard for cellular networks promising really high download speeds and much higher network capacity (i.e. the number of active devices in an area). Probably a reference to 1656: It Begins
	Landscape	To the right from the cell tower	A tyrannosaurus	Marks the direction to the Jurassic Park planet.
	Landscape	Right next to the tyrannosaurus	A St. Louis Arch shaped hole in the ground
	Landscape	To the left of the three pyramids	A monument shaped like a sphere with a "T" on top	This is a miniature of the Andal planet and marks the direction to it.
	Landscape	The leftmost of three pyramids	A pyramid with a soccer ball on top	Marks the direction to the Spacetime Soccer Field.
	People	The middle pyramid	Ponytail sitting on top of a pyramid, Megan standing at the base of it. Ponytail: If you want a better spaceship, you need to visit another planet. Megan: But if I want to visit another planet, I need a better spaceship!	An in-game reference to the fact that the player's ship initially has too little thrust to launch right off the surface of the Origin planet and needs an upgrade to become a "better" spaceship able to visit other planets. On the other hand, all engine upgrades are located off Origin, creating the apparently unsolvable chicken-and-egg problem – unless the player follows other hints and finds a way to escape Origin anyway.
	Landscape	The rightmost of three pyramids	A pyramid with Saturn on top of it	Marks the direction to Saturn.
	People	Next to the pyramid with Saturn on top	Cueball and White Hat talking. Cueball: I can't believe the Air and Space Museum's new exhibit has a real black hole! White Hat: Is that... safe? Cueball: It's OK, they've got a protective case around it.	Normally, it would not be possible to have a real black hole as a museum exhibit.[citation needed] Also, there's a misunderstanding between White Hat and Cueball. White Hat asks if it is safe for the public to keep a black hole in a museum. Cueball thinks White Hat is concerned about safety of the black hole itself, and responds that it is protected from unscrupulous visitors by putting it in a special case. This is an in-game hint regarding the Subway Planet and the black hole present in its tunnels. It's also a reference to the real-world Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum.
	Landscape	To the right from the pyramids	A monument shaped like Earth's land masses	Marks the direction to the Projection of Earth.
	People	Right next to the Projection of Earth monument	Hairy: Even if you did find a crack in the crystal sphere, there's no way you'd be able to escape its gravitational pull. You'd need some kind of a hyperdrive for that.	An in-game reference to the Crystal Sphere, the navigable crack through it and the hint regarding the hyperdrive.
	Landscape	On the left side of the St. Louis Arch	A monument of a strange spaceship	This is a reference to 2630: Shuttle Skeleton and marks the direction to the Shuttle Skeleton planet.
	Landscape	Opposite the rollercoaster	A large arch	This is a reference to the Gateway Arch located in St. Louis, Missouri. Marks the other end of the shaft going through the planet core.
	Message	A sign next to St. Louis Arch's right leg	The St. Louis arch is also known as the gateway to space.	The creator of the Arch, Finnish-American architect Eero Saarinen, reportedly said that the arch symbolizes "the gateway to the West" understood as the American frontier and the expansion of American colonies into the western parts of the continent. In-game, the Arch marks one of the "gateways" into the larger space of the game, namely the exits of the inner shaft, which allows the player to leave Origin by performing the Oberth maneuver (see below for further explanation).
	Upgrade	High above the St. Louis Arch	Nice flying! Your tanks recharge faster now.	Congratulations for getting your orbital mechanics right and skillfully executing Oberth maneuver (see below).
	People	Right next to the St. Louis Arch	Ponytail with a group of three kids looking like Hairy, Megan and Cueball. Ponytail: The St. Louis Arch is also known as the gateway to space.	Ponytail acting as a guide repeats (or reads) to the kids the slogan written on the sign next to the Arch. See above for the explanation of the slogan.
	Landscape	To the right of the St. Louis Arch	A monument with a pear-shaped structure connected to a small sphere	It's a miniature of the Roche Lobe Earth, marking a direction to it.
	Landscape	To the right of the St. Louis Arch	A small structure and a tower with a strange-looking orb on top	Marks the direction to the Round Planet.
	Item	Close to the top of the orb tower.	an orb wren	Wrens are a common family of birds. Their bodies are rather stocky with short wings, sometimes resembling an orb, especially when perched with ruffled feathers such as when enduring cold weather. There's no species actually called an "orb wren".
	Item	Hidden at the base of the orb tower.	11 squares packed into a larger square	A reference to 2740: Square Packing.
	People	To the right of the orb tower	Hairbun and another person. Hairbun: Boston? That's in North America, on the Subway planet. It's straight up from the secret glade, you can't miss it.	This is an in-game reference and a hint on how to find Boston and the Subway Planet
	Item	Hidden in a grassy area to the right of the orb tower	a tumbleweed	Tumbleweed is an above-ground part of some species of plants in a form of a round, dense bush, which detaches as the plant dries in the summer season and is pushed by winds, rolling along the landscape.
	Item	Over a grassy area to the right of the orb tower	a marsh wren	Marsh wren is a species of North American songbird.
	People	To the right from the grassy area	A quintet of hairy and bearded or moustached people playing and singing: It's more than a feeling More than a feeling	This is a reference to the popular song More Than a Feeling by the Boston rock band. It is also an in-game reference and pun regarding multiple Bostons present.
	Message	Above ground to the right of the musical band	You found a tiny meteorite!	Meteorites are fragments of small celestial bodies that have fallen onto the surface of Earth, surviving a high-speed passage through the atmosphere. Some are really tiny, being a result of a fragmentation of a larger one caused by the forces exerted during atmospherical entry. This particular one has not quite reached the surface, and should be called a meteoroid or a meteor instead.
	Item	High above ground to the right of the musical band	a single grain of salt
	Landscape	Between the grassy area and the forest left of the welcome sign	A spiral-shaped monument	Marks the direction to the spiral Uzumaki planet.
	Landscape	Between the grassy area and the forest left of the welcome sign	A radio telescope with its antenna pointed straight up. Receiving transmission.	Marks the direction to the Voyager 1. See also the entry on Voyager 2 above.
	People	Next to the voyager 1 radio telescope.	Cueball and Megan. Megan: It's like my astronomy teacher always said: "Shoot for the Moon -- even if you miss, you might make a crack in the crystal sphere that imprisons us all in this universe."
	Item	At the left edge of the forest to the left from the welcome sign	a holographic Charizard business card	This is a reference to a particular character from the Pokémon media franchise. Holographic business cards are a fairly novel form of business or personal presentation.
	Item	In the middle of the forest to the left from the welcome sign	a secret glade
	Item	Up the widest tree in the forest to the left from the welcome sign	a normal-looking leaf
	Message	In the exact middle of the planet	Welcome to liminal space
	People	In a chamber next to the planet's center	Megan with her hair floating around her head. Megan: The Oberth effect states that firing thrusters deeper in a gravity well adds more kinetic energy.	The Oberth effect is a physical phenomenon and orbital maneuver when a spacecraft fires its thrusters as close to the perycenter (the point on the orbit closest to the center of the orbited body) as possible, being deeper in the "gravity well", to gain more kinetic energy than if the same impulse (amount of propellant used and therefore speed difference) has been applied away from the center, in effect using its propellant more effectively. The kinetic energy is what allows a spacecraft to leave the proximity of the orbited body. A special case of such a maneuver may be accelerating in a theoretical shaft going through the core of the body, which is the case simulated in the game. Applying the principle according to Megan's hint the player is able to "swing" the spaceship a few times along the shaft, accelerating close to the center and allowing the "energy" to regenerate while away, and leave Origin in spite off low initial thrust. The fact that inside of a spherical body the gravity of the outer layers cancels out creates a local microgravity environment, causing Megan's hair to freely float around her head.
	Item	In a chamber next to the planet's center	a DVD of The Core (2003)	This is a reference to the 2003 American science fiction disaster film.
Hollow Planet	People	In the hollow center of the planet.	Ponytail and White Hat floating in microgravity. White Hat's hat has come off his head. White Hat: It's weird how a hollow shell doesn't exert gravitational force on objects inside it. Ponytail: Oh, so that's why we don't feel a pull from the crystal sphere.	White Hat experiences a practical application of an unintuitive, and since "weird" in his words, 2765: Escape Speed/Tables, as applied to gravity: that inside a hollow, spherical shell the forces of the gravity exerted by the shell cancel out for every object inside, regardless of its position within. Ponytail gets an epiphany, that it also applies to the gigantic Crystal Sphere surrounding the most part of the world she is in.
	Item + Upgrade	Close to the center of the planet.	a sixth Lagrange point Your thrusters are more efficient now.	Lagrange points are places relative to two heavy bodies orbiting one another, where a third, much lighter body will stay in equilibrium with the large two, orbiting the common center of gravity with the same period and keeping a constant distance from both. There are only five Lagrange points. In theory, a small body located in the center of a hollowed-out massive body will stay put as well (see the previous explanation), creating the sixth Lagrange point; however a hollow massive body can't exist, it will collapse under its own gravity.
	Landscape	On the surface of the planet.	A sign with upwards-pointing arrow saying: Round Planet	Marks the direction to the Round Planet.
	Item + Upgrade	Over the surface to the right of the Round Planet sign	a glass of heavy water Your engine gets a bit more powerful.	Heavy water is a form of water that contains only deuterium (hydrogen-2) atoms in place of the much more common hydrogen-1 atoms. It is approximately 10% denser than the regular water, hence its name. Heavy water is not normally poured into glasses as for drinking.
	Landscape	On the surface of the planet to the right of the Round Planet sign	A sign with upwards-pointing arrow saying: EXIT	Marks the direction to the crack in the Crystal Sphere.
	Landscape	Next to the EXIT sign	A sign with upwards-pointing arrow saying: Uzumaki	Marks the direction to Uzumaki
	Landscape	Across a gap in the surface to the right of the Uzumaki sign	A sign with upwards-pointing arrow saying: Origin and Subway	Marks the direction to Origin and (not quite precisely) to the Subway Planet.
	Landscape	On the surface opposite the EXIT sign	A sign with upwards-pointing arrow saying: Earth (compromise projection)	Marks the direction to Projection of Earth.
Round Planet	People	On the middle part of the Great Wall	Cueball and Megan. Cueball: The Great Wall of China is the only human-made structure you can see space from.	This is a pun on the commonly voiced misconception that the Great Wall of China is the only man-made object on Earth that can be seen from space (or the Earth's orbit at least).
	Item + Upgrade	To the right of the Great Wall over a field of boulders	a sensible cheese platter Your tanks recharge a bit faster now.	A cheese platter is a common dish served in restaurants as a starter or sometimes as a main dish, as well as a final course in a formal meal (following the sweet, or as an option instead of one) composed of a selection of cheeses served on a large platter. However, often it may just be a random collection of what's available (e.g. a hard cheese, a soft cheese, a blue cheese of either hard or soft variety, possibly a small serving of butter; and a selection of crackers that are either far too many or far too few for the other products). A "sensible" plate, i.e. well-composed by a competent chef, might be considered rare.
	Item	Within Stonehenge	a Swatch pop-out wristwatch
	People	To the right of the Stonehenge	Hairbun walking on absurdly high stilts	People walking on stilts are a fairly common theme in xkcd. References include 482: Height, 1608: Hoverboard, 1663: Garden, 2603: Childhood Toys, 2669: Things You Should Not Do and possibly other comics (maybe we need a new category).
	Landscape	Next to Hairbun on stilts	Three spaceships flying just above the surface. The leading one transmits a message: Rogue group, use your harpoons and tow cables! Go for the legs!	This is a quote from Star Wars episode V The Empire Strikes Back. In the original context the starships were attacking AT-AT four-legged armored vehicles, trying to immobilize them by entangling their legs. In the game, they are attacking Hairbun on stilts instead.
	Upgrade	Above the middle spaceship attacking Hairbun	Your engine gets a bit more powerful.	A regular engine upgrade.
	People	To the right of the three spaceships	A volleyball net. Cueball is jumping in the air to hit a volleyball on the right side of the net while Ponytail is juggling three bowling pins on the left side.
	Landscape	To the right of the volleyball field	An airplane towing a long, narrow banner with a message printed across, not along it: Does any one know how to get this thing to print in land scape mode?	A reference to 2757: Towed Message.
	People	To the right of the airplane towing a banner	Beret Guy climbing a cell tower with some fruit hanging off the antennas. Cueball is standing next to it.
	Landscape	To the right of the cell tower	Huge gallows with a large flag on a pole hanging on it. The pole of the flag is twisted into a shape partly resembling an infinity sign; the loose end of the pole pierces the flag. A relatively large Cueball figure stands next to it.
Uzumaki	Item + Upgrade	On the outside of the spiral	a single caffeine molecule Your tanks recharge a bit faster now.
	Message	The entrance to the spiral	Exit Only
	Item	Within the spiral	a festive but somehow unnerving holiday card from Junji Ito
	Item	Further within the spiral	a podcast episode
	Item	Further within the spiral	a friendly bee
	Item	Further within the spiral	an ink cartridge
	Landscape	Further within the spiral	A free-roaming Roomba Roomba: WHIRRR
	Message	Just above Roomba	You're going the wrong way!
	Item	Further within the spiral	a spiral-cut diamond
	Item	Further within the spiral	a golden radio tuned to 1.618 MHz
	People	Further within the spiral	Beret Guy: I like spirals!
	Item	Further within the spiral	a burrito
	Item	Further within the spiral	a cool pair of shoes with flames on the side
	Item	Further within the spiral	a scroll lock key
	Item	Further within the spiral	a primordial black hole
	Item + Upgrade	In the center of the spiral	a tree-filled grove and a nice spot for quiet contemplation Your thrusters are significantly more efficient now
...	...	...	...	...