Elite: Dangerous might not even be ready for liftoff just yet, but that hasn’t stopped the team from Frontier already dreaming up the expansion packs that may be coming to its epic space trading and combat simulator.

Currently in a closed beta, Elite: Dangerous promises to be an open-ended massively multiplayer space-sim that takes Elite’s timeless gameplay and spruces it up with breathtaking new graphics. Frontier Developments is already cramming an entire universe into its game, but the team is already investigating new features to be be added in future expansions, including planetary landings, huge ship interiors, and even walking on the planets themselves…

It’s ambitious stuff from Frontier, who wrote in a recent blog that the are planning to “continue to significantly enhance the game via further expansions after the launch date, using the same incremental development philosophy that [they have] used so far.

“Major new features will include planetary landings and even walking around inside ships, stations, and planet surfaces with time,” continued the posting. Wandering on the planet’s surfaces looks to be the ultimate goal for the developers, who don’t just want to create landing pads but explorable surfaces that require land-based vehicles to traverse.

“We believe that each stage will be incredible, and the result truly breathtaking,” said Frontier. “What you will see on the worlds will be a mix of procedurally generated content, particularly the landscapes, cloudscapes, compositions and so on, mixed with hand-crafted elements.”

The plans bring to mind both Elite: Frontier and Frontier: First Encounters, as well as Hello Games’ astonishingly ambitious No Man’s Sky.

What do you make of Frontiers' ambitious plans for Elite: Dangerous? Do you think it will be able to create such depth in a game with such a huge scale? Let us know!