It is possible to scan ships and stations to reveal important information about them. The information that can be gained by such scanning mostly depends on the strength of the scanner.
On-board Scanner
Your ship has a scanner that reveals very basic information such as a ship's or station's name, their stated affiliation, and the nature of some of the larger station modules. These are uncovered simply by being in close proximity to the object in question and facing the object.
Drone Scanning
The Beholder ROV is a dedicated scanning platform that can perform much deeper scans than those possible with ships. This makes it possible to discover information such as ship armament and closely-held secrets involving station-based production lines. However, not even the Beholder can pierce through some sophisticated scanning shields protecting particularly sensitive data.
Drone scanning is initiated by:
- activating a Beholder ROV,
- flying close to the object you would like to scan,
- interacting with the object to activate that object's context menu,
- and selecting “Drone scan”.
Note that use of the Beholder ROV is illegal in most settled space.