In Astroneer, some resources feel like a full-blown expedition. You’ll find yourself launching into orbit, scanning new planets, and building advanced infrastructure just to secure a single material. Clay, fortunately, is not one of those high-risk, off-world resources.
Clay can be found on every planet in the game. You don’t need interplanetary travel. You don’t need advanced atmospheric condensers. You don’t even need late-game automation.
But just because clay is common doesn’t mean mining natural deposits is the smartest way to get it.
If you’re looking for efficiency, and in Astroneer, efficiency is everything, the fastest and most consistent way to get clay is by using the Soil Centrifuge.
Let’s break down why this method works so well and how to set it up properly.
Why Mining Clay Isn’t Always Efficient
Yes, you can find clay deposits scattered across the surface of every planet. They appear as reddish-brown resource nodes and can be mined directly with your Terrain Tool.
The problem isn’t availability. The problem is consistency and speed.
Natural clay deposits are often spaced out. You might find a cluster, but then you’ll spend several minutes driving or running to locate the next one. If you’re in the middle of a larger crafting project, especially one that requires ceramic, this back-and-forth becomes inefficient.
Astroneer rewards systems over scavenging. Instead of chasing deposits, you can create a renewable clay production loop using soil. And soil is everywhere.
The Soil Centrifuge: Your Clay Factory
The Soil Centrifuge is one of the most underrated machines in Astroneer. It allows you to convert raw soil into base resources, including clay.
Instead of searching for clay nodes, you simply gather soil, feed it into the centrifuge, and choose clay from the output options. The machine does the rest.
Even better, a full centrifuge cycle produces six clay blocks at once. That’s far more efficient than manually hunting deposits.
How to Craft the Soil Centrifuge
The Soil Centrifuge is printed on the Medium Printer and requires:
2 Compound
1 Aluminum
Both of these materials are relatively easy to obtain early in the game. Compound is abundant on most planets, and aluminum can be smelted from laterite, which is also widely available underground.
Because of the low material cost, you can usually set up a centrifuge early in your progression. This makes clay production accessible much sooner than many players realize.
Once printed, place the centrifuge on a powered platform. Like most machinery in Astroneer, it requires a steady power source to function. Solar panels, wind turbines, small generators, or a base power grid will all work.
Crafting Soil Canisters
The centrifuge runs on soil, so your next step is building soil storage.
Soil Canisters are crafted directly from your backpack and require resin. Resin is one of the most common early-game materials, so crafting multiple canisters is easy.
While you only need enough soil to fill the centrifuge once, it’s highly recommended to craft at least two or more canisters. Having multiple canisters allows you to gather soil efficiently without constantly returning to your base.
Each canister fills automatically as you use your Terrain Tool to dig. You’ll notice a meter on the canister gradually turning green as it fills. Once fully green, it’s full and ready to be used.
Gathering Soil Efficiently
Now comes the simple but important part: collecting soil.
Find an area you don’t mind reshaping. Since Astroneer’s terrain is fully deformable, you’re essentially mining the planet itself. Dig into hillsides, flatten uneven ground, or carve out tunnels, whatever fits your base design plans.
The key advantage here is that soil is unlimited. Unlike clay deposits, which are finite nodes, soil can be harvested almost anywhere. That makes clay production through the centrifuge infinitely renewable.
As you dig, your soil canisters will fill automatically. Once they’re completely full, return to your base.
Turning Soil Into Clay
With full soil canisters in hand, approach your Soil Centrifuge.
Insert enough soil to fill the centrifuge’s internal meter. Typically, two full canisters are enough to complete a full cycle.
Open the centrifuge interface and scroll through the available resource options. Select clay from the menu, then activate the machine.
After a short processing period, six clay blocks will be produced.
That’s it. No wandering across the map. No hunting for scattered deposits. Just clean, efficient production.
Why This Method Is the Best Long-Term Strategy
The Soil Centrifuge method isn’t just fast, it’s scalable.
If you build additional centrifuges and improve your power infrastructure, you can create a steady supply chain of clay for ceramic production. Ceramic is essential for crafting items like drill mods, shelters, and various advanced components.
Instead of treating clay as a scavenged resource, you turn it into part of your automated production pipeline.
This is where Astroneer truly shines. The game encourages you to move from manual gathering toward systems-based efficiency. The Soil Centrifuge embodies that design philosophy perfectly.
Final Thoughts
Clay may not be the rarest material in Astroneer, but that doesn’t mean you should gather it inefficiently. While mining natural deposits works in a pinch, the Soil Centrifuge offers a faster, cleaner, and infinitely renewable solution.
Craft the centrifuge. Build multiple soil canisters. Dig strategically. Then convert that soil into six clay blocks at a time.
In Astroneer, the smartest resource isn’t the one you find, it’s the one you learn to manufacture.