If you’ve spent hours wandering the icy underwater valleys of Subnautica Below Zero looking for high-tier upgrades, you’ve almost certainly come across mentions of the crashed Mercury 2 shuttle. Finding the Mercury 2 location in Subnautica Below Zero isn’t just a box to check off your exploration list—it’s one of the fastest ways to get your hands on late-game gear, story clues, and rare crafting materials you can’t find anywhere else. I spent three dives wandering the wrong biomes before I nailed the exact route, so I’ve put together all the details you need to avoid my mistakes, stay safe, and loot every useful item from the wreck.
Exact Mercury 2 Location in Subnautica Below Zero: Step-by-Step Navigation Route
The Mercury 2 wreck sits in the eastern edge of the East Arctic biome, far enough from your initial drop pod that you’ll need at least a standard O2 tank and seatruck to reach it safely. Start from your drop pod, and head east-southeast for roughly 800 meters, keeping your depth between 100 and 150 meters the whole trip. You’ll pass the edge of the Twisty Bridges biome first, then the shallow thermal vents of the Thermal Spires, before you spot the first signs of the wreck.
Large chunks of broken shuttle metal floating 50 meters below the surface are your clearest marker that you’re in the right spot. If you use coordinates to navigate, the center of the wreck is at roughly 380, -125, 75. You can cross-reference this with your PDA’s map once you get within 100 meters of the site to confirm you’re in the right place. I’d recommend marking the location with a beacon as soon as you spot the first piece of debris, so you don’t have to search for it again later. It’s easy to lose your bearings when you’re running from a squidshark or chasing a shoal of edible fish, so a beacon will save you a lot of time on future visits.
Be aware of risks along the route, too. Squidsharks are common in the surrounding waters, so bring a stasis rifle or at least a repulsion cannon to fend them off if you don’t want to waste first aid kits. Water temperature drops to -2C in the deeper parts of the wreck, so a level 2 cold suit is non-negotiable if you plan to explore every nook of the site instead of rushing through for specific items.
Must-Loot Items You’ll Find Inside the Mercury 2 Wreck
The wreck is split into three accessible sections: the cockpit, midship storage compartment, and rear engine bay. Each section holds unique items you won’t want to leave behind, but these three picks are the most valuable for your progression:
- Parallel processing unit fragments: You need three of these to craft the advanced wiring kit required for the seatruck depth module MK3, which lets you dive to 600 meters. Two fragments spawn in the cockpit section of the wreck every run, so you only need to find one more elsewhere to finish the blueprint.
- High-capacity O2 tank blueprint: This upgrade doubles your underwater breath time, and it’s found in the storage compartment of the mid-section of the wreck. You don’t have to scan fragments for it—just pick up the data pad next to the broken storage crate to unlock it immediately.
- Mercury 2 crew logs: These 5 hidden logs reveal why the shuttle crashed, and tie into the larger story of Alterra’s abandoned operations on 4546B. Collecting all of them also unlocks a hidden voice line from Al-An when you return to your base later.
A lot of players skip the small storage lockers tucked under the wreck’s broken wings, but I’ve found lithium, diamond, and even a spare battery charger there on multiple runs. You won’t find any leviathans inside the wreck itself, but don’t let your guard down—small, aggressive ice worms can spawn in the flooded lower sections if you make too much noise with your sea truck. I made the mistake of rushing through the wreck on my first visit, and I missed the O2 tank blueprint entirely. I didn’t realize I’d skipped it until I was 3 hours into trying to explore the Deep Lilypads Cave, and kept running out of air before I could reach the alien artifact I was looking for. Go slow, scan every wall, and check under every broken console, and you won’t miss any of the good stuff.
Common Mistakes to Avoid When Searching for the Mercury 2 Wreck
Most players take two or three tries to find the wreck on their first playthrough, and almost all of them make the same avoidable errors. First, heading too far north. A lot of new players confuse the Mercury 2 wreck with the older Mercury 1 site, which is in the Glacial Basin 1.2 km north of the drop pod. You’ll know you’re in the wrong spot if you start seeing icebergs above the surface and ice worms burrowing in the seabed at 200 meters depth.
Second, not bringing enough inventory space. The wreck has almost 30 loose crafting items scattered across its sections, plus multiple data pads and fragments. I recommend leaving all non-essential gear like extra food and water at your base, and bringing an empty storage crate to stow extra loot while you explore. If you run out of space mid-loot, you’ll have to choose between leaving rare materials behind or making a long trip back to your base before you finish exploring the site.
Third, diving too deep too early. The main entrance to the wreck is at 120 meters, but many players drop straight to 300 meters looking for it, and end up wandering the Crystal Caves instead. If you see glowing purple crystals, you’ve gone too far down, turn back and head up 150 meters to find the wreck. Don’t try to enter the wreck without a laser cutter—two of the three storage compartments are blocked by sealed metal doors that can only be opened with the tool. Another common mistake I see players make is bringing their seatruck too close to the wreck. The seabed around the Mercury 2 is littered with sharp metal debris that can puncture your seatruck’s hull if you’re not careful, and it’s easy to get the front module stuck in the broken shuttle wings. I usually park my seatruck 50 meters away from the debris field, and swim the rest of the way in. It adds an extra 30 seconds of swim time, but it’s worth it to avoid having to repair your seatruck mid-dive.
How to Use the Mercury 2 Wreck as a Navigation Marker for Late-Game Exploration
Once you’ve looted the entire wreck, don’t just write it off as a one-time stop. It’s one of the most consistent navigation markers in the eastern part of the map, since the large metal debris field is visible from 200 meters away even in low-visibility conditions. For example, if you’re heading to the Arctic Spires to find Al-An’s storage facility, you can line up the Mercury 2 wreck with the large floating iceberg 300 meters to the north, and swim straight for 900 meters to hit the entrance to the biome without getting lost. No more wandering for hours trying to find the narrow cave entrance hidden in the ice walls.
It’s also a great spot to set up a small outpost if you spend a lot of time exploring the eastern biomes. The seabed right next to the wreck is flat, free of aggressive creatures, and has multiple thermal vents nearby that you can use to power a small base with thermal generators. I have a tiny outpost there with a fabricator, charging station, and storage, so I don’t have to swim all the way back to my main base when I run out of supplies while exploring the Thermal Spires or Lilypad Islands. It cuts down on travel time for late-game exploration runs by almost 40%, in my experience.
You can also use the wreck as a reference point when you’re searching for hidden alien artifacts. The large artifact in the East Arctic biome is exactly 400 meters southwest of the Mercury 2 wreck, at 220 meters depth. I stumbled on that connection completely by accident when I was exploring after looting the wreck, and it saved me from having to follow the vague PDA clues that don’t give you a clear location.
At the end of the day, finding the Mercury 2 location in Subnautica Below Zero is one of the most rewarding early-to-mid game exploration tasks you can complete. It gives you access to upgrades that make the rest of the game far less frustrating, fills in key gaps in the game’s story, and gives you a reliable navigation marker for all your future dives. Don’t stress if you can’t find it on your first try—even experienced players get turned around by the arctic’s twisting biomes sometimes. Just follow the route we laid out, pack the right gear, and keep an eye out for those floating shuttle chunks, and you’ll be looting the wreck in no time.
