So, recently NASA made quite the discovery, finding a star nearby in galactic terms with seven Earth-sized planets orbiting, three of which are inhabitable possibly. This star is a red dwarf called TRAPPIST-1 and is approximately 40 light years away, so now a great many space-based games with accurate starmaps are updating to make sure that this new discovery is included in their game. One of these is a favourite of the station staff, Elite: Dangerous.

Developer Frontier have announced that the TRAPPIST-1 system will be coming to the game with update 2.3, otherwise known as the ‘Commanders Update’. The information NASA released will be used to construct the system, but interestingly enough it seems that Elite’s own system for generating star systems got eerily close to the true TRAPPIST-1 system only a short distance away. A system already exists in game close to where the true-life TRAPPIST-1 system is, with seven planets orbiting a brown dwarf which is only slightly smaller than a red dwarf star. Of course, NASA still has details to discover so the game TRAPPIST-1 system will be updated accordingly over time as more details are released.

Already the Commanders Update will be bringing a lot to the game, including the ability to name your ship, a new camera system, the Commander creator and the ability to join friends in a single crew – so really this discovery and its addition is just a lovely bonus to the game.

TRAPPIST-1 will not be in the first round of beta testing, but Frontier hope to have it in for the second round.