Connect your conveyor to the intake on the outside of the dust station (the depot or hub building), not to the manual deposit point inside. Players describe it as the rubber flaps on the side of the building, and the in-game hint calls it the station's intake: run belts to it and the dust sells itself. The last belt section has to end inside those flaps. A belt that stops beside the wall does nothing.
On patch 1.0.3, the deposit intake pays exactly what its screen shows, and dust and stone arriving by belt are paid as they come in. There is no official diagram of the station's connection points, so the safest way to confirm your spot is a single test capsule and a check of your balance.
The Short Answer: Aim for the Flaps on the Station Wall
The starting station has two ways to receive dust:
- Inside: the manual deposit, where you carry capsules in, deposit them and launch the container.
- Outside: the belt intake behind the rubber flaps, where conveyors deliver capsules and get paid automatically.
Your conveyor belongs to the outside intake. When it is connected correctly, capsules ride the belt up to the flaps, disappear into the building and your money rises.
Belts end at the openings along the bottom of the station wall.
The ground around the starting hub is set up for building. One video guide points out that the squares around the main starter hub let you lay conveyor there once you have the Building Tool, which makes the final approach to the intake straightforward.
Depot Terms Players Mix Up
Guides and streams use several names for the same places. This table separates the connection points that matter for belts.
| Name you may see | What it is | Does a belt connect here |
|---|---|---|
| Station, hub, depot, base | The starting dust station where you sell | Yes, at its outside intake |
| Deposit intake, receiving intake | The belt entrance behind the rubber flaps | Yes, this is the target |
| Manual deposit inside | Where you hand in carried capsules | No, this is for manual deposits |
| Launch control | Sends a full container to get paid manually | No |
| Packager rear output | Where a Packager sends capsules out | Belt starts here, not ends |
| Garage silo back ports | Where vehicle dust leaves the silo | Belt starts here, not ends |
| Capsule Catcher | Receives capsules fired by J.O.O.N.A.S | Receiving point for J.O.O.N.A.S, not for your belts |
Keeping these apart prevents the most common mistake: building a belt from a source and ending it at the wrong side of the station.
Connect a Belt to the Intake Step by Step
- Buy the Building Tool ($50) and open the Logistics tab.
- Select Conveyor. It costs $0.50 per meter and each section can be up to 30 m long.
- Start the belt at your source's output: a Packager's rear output, a Robot Vacuum dock, a garage silo port or a processing machine's output.
- Extend toward the station in sections, checking the direction arrows each time. Arrows should point toward the station.
- Plan the last section so it approaches the intake flaps straight on, without a bend right at the wall.
- Match the belt's height to the intake. On PC, players report Ctrl plus the mouse wheel raises or lowers a belt while you build.
- Finish the section inside the flaps. If the preview stops short of the wall, extend it again.
- Send one capsule down the line and watch it enter the station.
- Check that your balance rises when it arrives.
Build from the source toward the station whenever you can. A belt drawn the other way can look perfectly joined while carrying capsules away from the intake.
How to Tell the Connection Worked
A working intake connection shows three things in a row:
- Capsules reach the flaps without stopping at the end of the belt.
- Capsules disappear into the building instead of stacking up outside it.
- Money arrives as each capsule goes in. On 1.0.3 the amount should match the intake's own screen.
The first time dust moves on any belt, the achievement Let the Belt Do It unlocks. It confirms movement, not selling, so you still need to check the balance.
If capsules reach the flaps and vanish but your money does not change, check your version first. At launch, players reported containers entering a base port and disappearing without pay. One reply blamed leftover dust in the manual intake inside the base and said emptying it helped. Patch 1.0.3 changed the intake so belt deliveries are paid on arrival.
Why a Belt Next to the Depot Still Does Not Sell
| What you see | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Capsules pile up at the end of the belt | Belt ends beside the wall, not in the intake | Extend the last section into the flaps |
| Nothing ever reaches the station | A section points the wrong way | Redraw it from the source side |
| Belt reaches the wall at the wrong height | Height mismatch at the final section | Adjust height before the last section |
| Capsules enter but pay nothing | Launch-build intake issue | Update to 1.0.3 and empty the manual intake |
| Sand capsules arrive but income looks wrong | Sand is not named in the 1.0.3 payment note | Test a small sand batch and compare |
The third material case deserves care. The patch note says dust and stone arriving by belt are paid as they come in. Moon Sand is not mentioned, and one guide notes player reports of inconsistent automatic selling for processed material. If you send sand to the station, run one small batch and watch the balance before routing all of it there.
Plan the Approach to the Station
The last few meters before the intake cause most connection problems. A little planning saves rebuilding later.
- Keep the final stretch straight. Bends and height changes right before the flaps make a disconnected section hard to spot.
- Raise belts over paths you use. Streamers raised belts high enough to drive vehicles underneath. Do this away from the intake, then bring the belt back down before the last section.
- Combine lines before the intake. If several sources need to reach the station, a Merger can join their belts into one delivery belt. That keeps the final approach to the flaps simple.
- Leave room. Placement can fail when a piece is too close to another structure. Keep the area in front of the intake free of solar panels and machines.
Whether one intake accepts several separate belts at once is not covered by the sources used here. Merging lines first avoids the question entirely.
Can You Build a New Depot Near Your Work
This part is not settled, so check it in your own build menu.
The Steam store description says you can place depots near your work as your operation grows. Players who searched the build menu on stream, however, did not find a buildable deposit station. The structures, logistics, production, power and services tabs they read out contained foundations, belts, Packagers, machines, solar panels, robots, the garage and the Capsule Catcher, but no new selling station. One streamer asked directly whether a deposit station could be built and concluded it could not.
The Moon Map shows other stations across the surface. One map showed 12 stations, and the 1.0.3 notes mention faster teleports between stations and new compass icons for dust stations. Whether a distant station's intake accepts belts the same way as the starting hub is not confirmed by the sources here.
Until that is clear, practical ways to sell from far away are:
- Extend the main line. At $0.50 per meter, a long belt back to the starting station is cheap. One guide suggests 90 to 100 m of belt with a Packager at the far end.
- Use a Packager at the work site. You unload nearby and the belt carries capsules to the intake.
- Use a garage silo for vehicles. Park on the collector pad and let the silo's back ports feed a belt to the station.
- Use J.O.O.N.A.S and a Capsule Catcher late in the game. The Catcher's in-game text says it receives capsules fired from anywhere on the Moon.
Manual Deposits Still Count for Some Goals
Connecting a belt does not replace every manual action. Several achievements track deposits and launches rather than money:
- Dust Delivery: deposit dust at the depot once.
- Return to Sender: launch a full dust container into space.
- Regular Customer, Depot Resident, Do You Live Here?: 100, 1,000 and 10,000 depot deposits.
- Frequent Flyer Dust: contribute dust to 10 successful launches.
Whether belt deliveries through the intake count toward the deposit milestones is not confirmed. If you are chasing them, compare your progress after manual deposits and after a period of belt delivery, and keep using whichever method actually advances the counter.
Checklist Before You Leave the Line Running
- The belt starts at a real output port on its source.
- Every section's arrows point toward the station.
- The last section ends inside the rubber flaps at the right height.
- One test capsule entered the station and your balance went up.
- The manual intake inside the station is empty.
- Every crewmate is on 1.0.3 if you play together.
Once all six are true, the station end of your line is done. Any later slowdown is upstream, at the source, a junction or a processing machine.