The creator of 'The Space Project,' a self-running space economy simulator, has open-sourced the simulation built in Rust and Bevy. This project features hundreds of autonomous ships engaged in trade, mining, and contract fulfillment within a dynamic economy where markets set prices based on supply and demand, factions implement taxes and subsidies, and populations migrate based on satisfaction.

Initially prototyped in Elixir/Phoenix, the engine was rewritten in Rust due to performance issues on Windows gaming PCs. The simulation core is synchronous and IO-free, with the Bevy client embedding it directly as a library. Ship AI is powered by a GOAP planner, allowing ships to replan routes mid-flight. Currently, the simulation handles approximately 485 agents per tick, with an architecture designed to scale to much larger numbers.

This project is described as a sandbox, not a finished game, with no player objectives. The creator has made it available under the MIT license, encouraging others to fork, modify, or build upon it. Development was significantly aided by pairing sessions with Claude, which allowed the creator to reach this advanced stage.