Would any of this create in any way a compelling game loop however? I kind of doubt it. The orrery map for instance is nothing but "bling". More types of signal sources, no matter whether in space or on the surface, might only spice things up a bit, but might ultimately make exploration more tedious. You go there, you find things, you scan them, you turn data in, you get credits, the end. That is the exact same exploration loop we have today, only with a more broad range of things to find. I don't think that'll cut it.
Normally, what makes for compelling game loops, is a sense of progression or a goal to work for. Progression and goal here is pretty much limited to reaching Elite in exploration and doing sight seeing. Maybe discovering an Earthlike. Normally however, that feeds back into your game, e.g. by providing you with access to further game elements and mechanics that were previously unreachable. But there is little to nothing that is unreachable in exploration once you have an appropriately outfitted Asp. Kind of the curse of a sandbox game. No aritificial restrictions of your capabilities, but that also means if the base mechanics are shallow and there are no complex meta mechanics on top of them, you're stuck with something shallow.
One thing that might make for a sense of progression in exploration or any other profession for that matter, is a robust mission system which somehow lets you progress from low ranks to the upper explorer ranks with increasingly complex and fun missions and interaction with the game's factions. But Elite currently has no such mission system (only very rudimentary for other professions). For a more robust and fun mission system, more elaborate game mechanics than scanning things, shooting at them and gobbling them up as cargo would probably be necessary. It's a multi layered issue that starts from the very core of the game's mechanics. And it very likely is not solved by adding some hundred different kind of signals on the surfaces, with which you can also only interact by scanning them, shooting at them, or farming them.
And let's be realistic with the exploration missions: Do we expect them to be any more elaborate than "scan three earth likes"? Based on the currently available missions, I wouldn't hold my breath.
There's currently only one really compelling game loop I see in Elite personally: Bounty hunting and combat. It has a sense of progression, as you can gradually upgrade your ship and equipment. Much further than an explorer ship even, because as I said, there's no real benefit in progressing from an Asp to anything bigger. On top of that, the core mechanic is so much more compelling than exploration. In exploration, you point your nose at something and hold the scan trigger. There is no differentiation between your scanning scanning equipment. Even if there was, there is about zero challenge in scanning something. Point mouse, hold trigger, done. There's a whole lot more depth in combat, as the targets have an "AI", have various stats which you have to take into account and for which you can optimize your equipment. They also go "boom" if you're successful. Basic and primitive perhaps, but a world of difference in terms of feedback compared to the scan complete sound.
