Shinobi-san on 28 December 2014
While this video doesn't exactly answer all the questions you've raised, its a really interesting dev interview and it gives some great insight into the way the No Mans Sky universe has been created.
This also has implications on how the universe will function..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-kifCYToAU
I think i ended up with more questions after watching it though 
