Moon Sweepers Money Guide: Compare Ways to Earn

Quick answer

The dependable money source is selling material at a station. Moon dust pays $1 per kg, moon sand $3 per kg and moon stone $7 per kg before payout upgrades. Early cash also comes from cleared regions ($10), untangled flags ($100) and surveyed lunar sites ($250). Manual dust is fastest to start; processing is the better scale route once you can afford machines and power.

Moon Sweepers v1.0.4 · PC / Steam · normal progression only Checked 28 Oct 2026

Travel and base logistics matter as much as the per-kilogram price.

Income sources

Every verified income source

Normal money sources in 1.0.4
Source	Requirement	Base reward	Best use
Moon dust	Sweep, fill a tool or machine, sell at a station.	$1 / kg	First hour and continuous baseline.
Moon sand	Pressure chamber; $500, 10 kW, 5 kg per 12 s.	$3 / kg	Mid-game volume once power is stable.
Moon stone	Stone press; $1,000, 18 kW, 1 kg dust + 1 kg sand per 6 s.	$7 / kg	Higher-value processing after sand supply is reliable.
Region completion	Leave at most 1% of a region's dust.	$10 per region	Passive income while exploring.
Flag	Interact with each of 195 flags.	$100 per flag	Early cash while moving between jobs.
Lunar site	Survey each of 26 sites.	$250 per site	Large early windfall; requires travel.
Vehicle trick	Clean landing after a jump, flip or spin.	Up to $25	Opportunistic; not a stable farming loop.

Base payouts and machine prices are from the 1.0.4 data index. Region Bounty and Market Contracts multiply only the routes they describe.

The store description calls the collection point a depot, while the current game texts call the four fixed points stations. The delivery guide explains the naming and the Packager.

Stage comparison

Which route is quickest for your stage

There is no single fastest route for every player because travel, power and attention costs change with the map. The honest comparison is by stage and bottleneck.

Decision table
Stage	Recommended route	Why	Do not copy this yet
First 30 minutes	Sell dust; collect flags and lunar sites on the way.	No machine cost and no power dependency. A flag alone is $100; a site is $250.	Do not buy a $500 pressure chamber before the container and brush are usable.
Early base	Build a Packager and belts to a station; keep selling dust.	The $100 Packager shortens the return trip without committing to processing.	Do not build a chain you cannot power.
Stable power	Pressure chamber to sand; add a stone press when you can feed both inputs.	Sand is 3x dust; stone is 7x dust. One chamber makes 25 kg sand per minute at full power.	Do not assume the stone press runs on sand alone; it also consumes dust.
Crew or long session	Scale with robots, belts and more stations.	The bottleneck moves from your brush to transport and power.	Do not leave a full catcher, a stopped press or a missing belt and blame the payout.

Net earnings

Travel, processing and upgrade costs change the net

The listed price is gross. A run also costs time, power, belt space and the risk of carrying a full load in the wrong direction. The pressure chamber adds $10 of base value for every 5 kg of dust converted to sand. The stone press adds $10 of base value per cycle, using 1 kg dust and 1 kg sand. Those numbers are useful for comparing machine throughput; they are not a promise that a machine pays for itself in a fixed number of minutes.

Base value and payout upgrades
Upgrade	Effect at max	Total price	When it matters
Market Contracts III	+18% launch payout	$1,620	After you are launching large base-value loads.
Lunar Exchange	+10% launch payout	$2,500	Late-game multiplier; stacks with Market Contracts.
Region Bounty II	+$30 per player-credited region	$800	When you are consistently finishing regions yourself.
Supplier Network II	10% off tools and containers	$950	Only saves on tools/containers; not a broad discount.

Keep the methods separate

Normal money and edited money are different pages

Trainers and save editors can change the wallet, but those are not normal earning routes. They have their own version, backup and co-op risks. Use the trainer guide or Cheat Engine page if that is what you want; do not mix an edited balance into a comparison of legitimate progression.

Straight answers

Questions about this task

What is the fastest legitimate money at the start?

Sell dust at the nearest station and pick up any flags or lunar sites you pass. The base dust price is $1 per kg, a flag is $100 and a site is $250. Machines cost hundreds or thousands, so they are not the first-hour answer.

Is stone always better than sand?

Stone has the higher per-kilogram value, but it needs both dust and sand inputs, 18 kW and a 6-second cycle. Sand is the simpler first processing step. Compare the whole chain, not the price label.

Does Region Bounty pay for every crew region?

The 1.0.4 data index says the bonus is added only for a region credited to a player. A region credited to the whole crew pays the $10 base. Do not budget the bounty for every completion in co-op.

Trace the answer

Sources and scope

This is an independent, source-led guide, not a first-hand playtest. Gameplay values, build-menu details and UI behavior are checked against the 1.0.4 data snapshot and official patch notes. Your installed build is the final authority.

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