I have been playing NMS via GOG off and on since release day. I completed the first expedition and then have not played another one until the most recent three, which I did on my PS5, and the most recent one I did also on Mac via Steam. I have been looking forward to playing older expeditions I missed in years prior, plus being able to have them done on both Steam and PS5.
But in looking at the last two years both times the expedition replays started in November. I am slowly losing hope that I will get to play them this year.
I think Hello Games is doing something big behind the scenes. Last Expedition was the worst one so far imo, it was the first one to have ZERO narrative of any kind, 100% just chores and fetch quests. PC received an Experimental update weeks ago that Console still hasn’t received. And this next update represents part 4 out of 4 of the Void Mother narrative, the grand finale.
All of that makes me feel like a lot of the core team is working on something else.
So I don’t have a direct answer to your question, but I will say, to me, it’s another indication that something huge is on the way.
Heh, you called it.
And they’re re-running Expeditions!
https://www.nomanssky.com/2023/12/holiday-2023-expeditions/