Starbound: How to unlock the Beta sector

By now, you've probably noticed that all the galaxies you've explored begin with Alpha. There is a next tier of the universe with a higher difficulty that you can unlock called the Beta sector. Read on below to see how you can achieve this:

Optional Starter Quests

Upon starting up Starbound for the first time, you get a series of quests that start from searching your ship's locker for a matter manipulator and ending with building a Distress Beacon.
Each race has a tiny difference in the title and text of their quests but they are all the same in their objectives.

Quest 1: Obtain Matter Manipulator from the ship's storage/locker and equip it on your skill bar. Press E to open the locker when it is lit.

Quest 2: Obtain some unrefined wood and craft a Wooden Crafting Table. You'll need to leave the ship by using the platform on the left or pressing the Down Arrow icon on the menu on your right. Use your Matter Manipulator on a tree trunk to break it down for some wood. Press C to bring up your crafting window and craft wooden planks from the unrefined wood you just got. Then you can craft the Wooden Crafting Table from the planks by selecting it on the menu.

Quest 3: Obtain Raw Alien Meat and cook it to get Cooked Alien Meat to satiate your hunger. Beam down from your ship once again to kill some aliens for food. You may use your weapon from the locker or craft a Hunting Bow which has a higher chance of giving you meat. Craft a Campfire with wood and torches (from locker) and place it on the ground. Press E to interact with it and cook your alien meat.

Quest 4: Craft a Furnace. You will need to obtain 25x Cobblestones and 1x Campfire at the Wooden Crafting Table. Again, use your matter manipulator on some grey blocks to get cobblestone. You may look at the material requirements by accessing the crafting table at any time. Optionally, by now you'd probably want to have a Stone Pickaxe for easier mining so craft that next.

Quest 5: Obtain Iron Ore and use Furnace to smelt it into Iron Bar. You will need 2 iron ores to make 1 bar so mine accordingly. Press E on Furnace to bring up smelting and put your ores into the box.

Quest 6: Craft a Distress Beacon at the Wooden Crafting Table. The materials that you'll need are: 150x Pixels, 2x Silver Bars, 10x Copper Bars, 10x Iron Bars, and 100x Wooden Planks.

After you obtain a Distress Beacon, place it wherever you think is a good spot to kill the boss that will spawn: The Dreadwing Penguin Ufo!
You'd want to be equipped with Iron Armor and a ranged weapon in a large open area to make the fight easy. This boss drops little penguin minions that can be annoying but overall, the fight should be pretty easy.

Defeating the boss will reward you with 5x Molten Core (you only need one) which you will need to craft a Metalwork Station. Additionally you will need 1x Iron Anvil and 300x Pixels.

The item you need at this crafting station is the Starmap Upgrade MK2!
Requirements are: 5x Iron Bar and 400x Pixels.


Use the item after crafting and you should be able to access the Beta sector with your ship!