For minecraft theres a mod called applied energistics 2, in this mod one of the main things you can do is build computers which can store items digitally, late in starbound and even more so when you start expanding past 1.0 storage will be a problem and seeing as its a sci fi game, storing items in some digital item storage system would be useful later in the game as a progression from chests and crates.
I've played that mod and it would perfectly fit in starbound. Although i think starbound needs more duration, like items above tier 6. Silicon might appear in asteroid fields and would spawn when meteorite falls in extreme planets. And a new table to make all the system. Also a power source like the RedstoneFlux that is globally used in Minecraft modded packs. It could be called, "StarFlux" or plain, "Energy"
Yeah i think power generation would be cool, but i think the problem with that is that there are already machines that aren't powered and that would mean for it to make sense ChuckleFish would have to change all the things in the game like the stations that are like that, so they could do that, or the digital data storage could just be simpler with no power requirements. I agree about them adding more tiers of armor and stuff, would be awesome, with like really hard bosses and stuff, im sure they're planning on doing that after 1.0 (hopefully )