J.O.O.N.A.S. and Capsule Catcher setup in Moon Sweepers

J.O.O.N.A.S. is the large cleaning machine. It costs $20,000 (MoonSweepersDB, version 1.0.4), is 5.6 m wide with 6 arms and carries a 60 kg bin. It requires at least one [Capsule Catcher](/machines/capsule-catcher/) ($1,500) to drop its load. Since 1.0.4 it cleans twice as fast as in 1.0.3, works hex by hex from the outside in, launches from anywhere in the field instead of returning to a dock, and keeps working when no player is nearby. Those last three facts come from the official Steam patch notes, the rest from community databases.

The Capsule Catcher receives J.O.O.N.A.S. capsules and releases them through a single OUT port. The patch notes raised its capacity to 100 kg in 1.0.4. Its release rate is not published.

Patch 1.0.5 added a rule that explains most placement questions. Catchers within 100 m of each other form a group. J.O.O.N.A.S. aims for the least-filled catcher of the nearest group, and moves on to the next group when every catcher in that group is above 80% full. With the 100 kg buffer, a catcher counts as full from 80 kg.

• Put several catchers inside one 100 m circle near the area J.O.O.N.A.S. cleans. The load is shared across the group.
• Spread groups far apart only if you want J.O.O.N.A.S. to fall back to another group when the first is nearly full.

1. Place a first Capsule Catcher. Without one, J.O.O.N.A.S. has nowhere to deliver.
2. Add more catchers within 100 m if your cleaned area is large. Each one adds 100 kg of buffer.
3. Connect each catcher OUT port to a conveyor that leads to your chain. A catcher that cannot empty will sit above 80% and be skipped.
4. Make sure the outfeed can carry what arrives. One conveyor lane moves at most 88 capsules per minute in the ideal case, which is 88 kg/min of 1 kg capsules (see the conveyor guide).
5. Feed the dust into Pressure Chambers and Stone Presses and power them.

No source documents a stop condition, so what follows is reasoning from the confirmed rules, not a tested fix. Check these in order.

• No Capsule Catcher exists. J.O.O.N.A.S. requires at least one.
• Every catcher in the nearest groups is above 80% and nothing drains them, so there is no least-filled target left. Connect or unblock the OUT ports.
• The downstream line is saturated or stuck, so the catchers cannot release capsules. Look for a full lane, a merger or a press with a full input.
• The world capsule limit applies: since 1.0.5 it is 90,000 capsules in total (the old 10,000 limit on the ground was removed).

There is no kg/min figure for J.O.O.N.A.S., for the robot docks or for the Capsule Catcher output. One guide gives cleaning and travel speeds of 2 and 3 m/s and a 20 kg capsule, but nothing else confirms them, so Foundry shows these values as unknown. Treat any dust-per-minute number you see elsewhere as a measurement of someone’s own base, not a rule. The cheaper automation options have equally unknown rates: a Robot Dock Mk I costs $250 with a 15 kg robot bin, a Mk II costs $500 with a 40 kg bin.