These can be traded to other friendly races for race credits.
You can also discover shuttle craft crash sites, ancient ruins and military burial grounds.
Some will be dangerous while others not so much. Find metal, gas and fuel resources as well as animal life forms. You must also make orbit around planets and send down your planet lander to explore them. Helping these ships will grant you precious resources. While traversing through star systems you will also come across damaged or distressed ships. Most encounters will result in a small 15-20 second mini arcade game. Worm holes become star lanes that let you travel greater distances instantly once you have explored them using research probes. You will explore anomalies, asteroid fields, comets, nebulas, suns and worm holes. You will also encounter space pirates and pirate outpost. Along the way you will encounter other races along with their associated counterpart rebels. Your mission is to pass through a small sector of the galaxy to hunt down the enemy race. You're the captain of a small fleet of 3-5 ships.