CCP Hammer has posted a new dev blog on the official EVE Online website detailing the Planetary Interaction features which will debut with the launch of EVE Online's newest expansion, Tyrannis, later this summer.

CCP Hammer kicks things off with a bit of backstory, explaining that CCP has wanted to do Planetary Interaction for some time, and teasing us with the progression of EVE from interacting with planets as players will come Tyrannis, down to the boots-on-the-ground experience of DUST 514, and inside stations with the release of Incarna. The goal is for EVE Online to be the "ultimate sci-fi simulator." But as Hammer admits, he is getting a bit ahead of himself.

So what is Planetary Interaction, exactly? Hammer explains below:

A little about what Planetary Interaction is; PI is a feature in which industrial minded pilots can now take advantage of the resources on planets which had previously been laying dormant. To do that one simply opens the planet browser, finds a suitable planet via a scanning interface then plunks down various things we have internally been calling PINs (planetary interaction node), links those PINs together and then configures routes for all of the stuff moving between the PINs. PIN is just a working title and we've got our highly trained sci-fi experts on the task of renaming everything so you should expect the name to change by the time they reach Tranquility. Our ultimate goal being to create a nice additional revenue stream for people that's wrapped up in a sexy UI with lots of sci-fi feeling content that eventually ties in seamlessly with DUST 514.