Starfield: What happened to Earth?

Rishov Mukherjee
A screenshot of Earth from Starfield

With Starfield taking place all across space it’s only natural that players would eventually want to visit our home planet and see how much it has developed. However, Earth isn’t as you might expect in Starfield and this is what happened to it.

Starfield may be an RPG more so than a space exploration game, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t rewarding to scour the outer worlds. There’s a huge variety of diverse planets to find but what about our home?

Many Starfield players wondering just this have adventured back to Sol to see the wonders of a futuristic Earth. However, what awaits isn’t pretty and will leave you with more questions than answers.

We’re here to clear things up and answer what happened to Earth in Starfield and how it ended up in such a dire state.

Spoiler: The following section contains major spoilers from the main campaign of Starfield.

What led to Earth being empty in Starfield?

A screenshot of Earth in Starfield
Earth is a rocky desert world in Starfield

During the main story, it is revealed that Earth’s magnetosphere was torn apart by the early testing of Grav Drives that took place on the Moon. Victor Aiza – the lead NASA scientist running the project – decided it was a worthwhile sacrifice for humanity to discover the “infinite expanse of promise,” that is space.

This Earth’s untimely demise led to a call for immediate action as the government only had 50 years to evacuate everyone. Fortunately, human life had progressed significantly by this point which meant that relocating to a new world was easily done.

Is it possible to land on Earth in Starfield?

A screenshot from the game Starfield
It is possible to land on Earth in Starfield

If you want to land on Earth then you can do so. Earth is located in the Sol star system found on the left side of the Star Map.

Unfortunately, Earth is not a very interesting planet in Starfield. You can visit it at the beginning of the game as long as you have the fuel to do so. However, all you’ll find is a vast desert of nothingness with just a handful of landmarks to show for all humanity’s efforts.

This concludes our guide on what happened to Earth in Starfield. If you found it informative, please consider checking out some of our other guides at Dexerto:

Starfield all main story missions | All skills | All factions | All console commands | All difficulty levels explained | All achievements | All skill books | Level cap | How to remove bounty | How to fast travel | Easy XP | Easy credits | Best traits | How to get a house | How to mod weapons and equipment | How to assign your crew | How to add DLSS | How to pick locks | How to customize ship | How to dock ship | Where to sell items | Best movies like Starfield

About The Author

Rishov is a Games Writer at Dexerto. He holds a Masters degree in Astrophysics from St Xavier's College in Kolkata, India, and has previously worked at Sportskeeda. In his spare time, he enjoys playing Street Fighter, Destiny 2, Genshin Impact and Honkai Star Rail, the games he specializes in as well. If you want to get in touch, contact Rishov at rishov.mukherjee@dexerto.com