No. As of patch 1.0.3, no upgrade for J.O.O.N.A.S itself has been reported in Moon Sweepers. Its speed, bin size and cleaning behaviour are not upgradable the way your hand tools and vehicles are. One of the most-upvoted Steam reviews puts it directly, saying top-tier automated sweepers like J.O.O.N.A.S cannot be upgraded the way vehicles can. A solo player who bought one on stream reached the same conclusion the moment it was deployed: it has no upgrades.
That does not mean you are stuck with one slow robot. You can buy more units, make each capsule they send worth more, cut the cost of expansion, and make sure every unit you own is actually working. This page explains what can and cannot be upgraded, and where your money does the most for a J.O.O.N.A.S fleet.
- J.O.O.N.A.S upgrades: none reported at 1.0.3.
- What you can scale instead: number of units, value of the dust they deliver, and how reliably that dust reaches the Depot.
- Future changes: the developers list progression balancing as ongoing work, but they have not announced J.O.O.N.A.S upgrades.
What J.O.O.N.A.S Does Out of the Box
The Building Tool lists J.O.O.N.A.S as "Just One Overpriced Non-essential Automated Sweeper". For $20,000 you get a robot with six arms that scrubs the Moon one hex at a time, always heading for the nearest hex that is still dusty. When its bin is full it fires capsules at the nearest Capsule Catcher ($1,500), from anywhere on the Moon. Without a catcher it waits with a full bin.
Those are fixed properties. There is no menu to make the arms faster, the bin larger or the travel quicker. Every improvement has to come from around the robot rather than from the robot.
What Can and Cannot Be Upgraded
The clearest way to see the limit is to compare J.O.O.N.A.S with the other equipment in the game. The values below were shown in early versions of the game and may change between patches, so check the in-game price and bonus before buying.
| Equipment | Upgradable | Examples reported by players |
|---|---|---|
| Hand tools | Yes | Household Broom container from about 3 kg to 6 kg for $30; Wide Head +8% width for $40; Dust Compactor +15% container capacity for $150; Auto Packer |
| Vehicles | Yes | Hopper ranks, Suction Control, cruise control, flood lights, quick release, wider hopper gate; one Mega Vacuum Rover reached a 5,700 kg hopper |
| Economy | Yes | Market Contracts +6% launch payout for $120; Supplier Network 5% discount; Region Bounty +$15 per completed region |
| Robot Vacuum | No in-place upgrade | Mk II is a separate $500 machine covering 37 hexes instead of the Mk I's 19 |
| J.O.O.N.A.S | No | No upgrade path reported |
| Processing machines and conveyors | No | Reviewers specifically ask for faster belts, Pressure Chambers and Stone Presses |
Since patch 1.0.3, each garage can also recall, store and upgrade the vehicles you own, which makes the gap even more visible: vehicles have a full upgrade route in the garage, while the most expensive cleaner in the game has none.
How shared upgrades affect this in co-op
Patch 1.0.3 made upgrades shared across the whole crew. Everyone now uses the host's upgrade matrix, an upgrade bought by any member applies to everyone, and older saves keep the highest level any crew member had bought. This means there is no hidden J.O.O.N.A.S upgrade on another player's matrix either. If the host's Upgrade Matrix does not show one, your crew does not have one.
Ways to Get More From J.O.O.N.A.S Without Upgrades
Since the robot cannot be improved directly, put money into the parts of the system that change what J.O.O.N.A.S earns and how much ground it covers in total.
Buy more units, but only when the first one is working
Adding units is the only way to multiply J.O.O.N.A.S cleaning speed. Players disagree on how well this scales:
- One reviewer argued that by the time you can afford $20,000 it is no longer a large sum, and that each additional unit speeds up income, so purchases come faster as you go from 5 to 10 to 20 units.
- Another solo reviewer reported unlocking all economy and vehicle upgrades, buying more than ten units, and reaching only about 0.6% of the Moon, describing the late game as waiting.
Both can be true at once. More units do clean more, but the Moon is very large and progress per unit is modest. A widely used automation guide also warns that multiple units should not be assumed to scale perfectly, since travel, target selection and capsule delivery all affect results. Confirm the first unit is cleaning and delivering before buying the next.
Make each capsule worth more
J.O.O.N.A.S delivers raw Moon Dust. Processing that dust before it reaches the Depot raises what every capsule pays out, which is the closest thing to an earnings upgrade for the robot.
| Machine | Cost | Output | Power |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pressure Chamber | $500 | Moon Sand, sold for three times raw dust value | 10 kW |
| Stone Press | $1,000 | Moonstone, sold for seven times raw dust value | 18 kW |
These are material value multipliers, not guaranteed profit multipliers. A press waiting on one ingredient or a chamber running out of power at night earns less than selling raw dust reliably. Route the catcher's output into processing only after the raw line works.
Use economy upgrades that apply to what you sell
Upgrade Matrix purchases in the economy area change money, not robots. Market Contracts raises the payout on dust sent through the launch system. Whether J.O.O.N.A.S dust benefits depends on it being sold through that system, so compare income from the same number of capsules before and after buying it.
Supplier Network reduces equipment or upgrade costs. A discount matters most before a run of large purchases, and J.O.O.N.A.S units are the largest regular purchase in the game. Check the robot's listed price after buying the discount to confirm it applies before planning a fleet around it.
Keep every unit productive
An idle unit is a bigger loss than a missing upgrade. Two current problems can leave a $20,000 robot doing nothing:
- Distance: the developers list J.O.O.N.A.S units stopping when players move away as an open issue in 1.0.3. Units deployed far from where anyone plays may not be cleaning.
- Delivery: without a working catcher and onward belt, a unit waits with a full bin. J.O.O.N.A.S fires at the nearest catcher, so a remote catcher with no route can swallow capsules.
Fixing either of these adds more effective output than any upgrade could.
Is J.O.O.N.A.S Worth Buying Without Upgrades
With no upgrade path, the decision comes down to what you want from it. Player reactions are mixed:
- A solo streamer who placed one found it better than expected, called it not as fast as driving a vehicle but good for unattended cleaning, and planned to build an army of them.
- Another reviewer described automated cleaners as requiring a lot of money while being very slow.
- A third felt the first unit was unsatisfying but argued the value comes from owning many.
| Your situation | Sensible choice |
|---|---|
| Raw dust line to the Depot is unreliable | Fix delivery before buying J.O.O.N.A.S |
| You still clean actively with an upgraded vehicle | A fully upgraded vehicle clears ground faster while you drive |
| You want progress while you work on your base | J.O.O.N.A.S plus a well-placed catcher near your base |
| You already own several idle units | Reposition and verify them before buying more |
| You plan to fill the Moon with units | Buy processing and the Supplier Network discount first, then expand |
Total cost for a first working unit is at least $21,500 for the robot and one catcher, before belts or processing. Treat that as a long-term investment in steady background cleaning, not a jump in speed.
The Economy tab sits in the same Upgrades screen as tool and logistics upgrades.
How to Check for J.O.O.N.A.S Upgrades After a Patch
The developers are a two-person team and have said progression balancing and quality-of-life improvements are on their list. If a future patch adds robot upgrades, it will most likely appear in one of these places:
- Patch notes: look for J.O.O.N.A.S named explicitly rather than general progression changes.
- Upgrade Matrix: in co-op, check the host's matrix, since that is the one the crew uses.
- The J.O.O.N.A.S build menu entry: compare its description and price with the values on this page.
Until one of those changes, plan as if J.O.O.N.A.S will stay exactly as it is: a fixed-performance robot whose value comes from how many you own, where you put them, and what happens to their dust after it lands.