So I have theorized that the game is forcing me to learn and try something new, IE, surface mining. Is this a clever marketing ploy? I'm already invested in a Federal Corvette now
it does. materials are just there to herd people to do things, and that's pretty much what there is. however ... phosphorus!! that's really the bottom of the food chain!
any ship can fit a srv, and any landable planet has loads of phosphorus lying on the ground. just land, drive around admiring the view and following the hints of your scanner, you will stumble over rocks pretty soon, blow up and collect.
if you never used the srv then, true, you'll have to review your bindings and get used to it but ... it is actually good game content, actually much richer and deeper gameplay than the customization meta of a corvette, because you get to see actually very cool places. imo it's definitely worth it, you might even forget about that corvette ;-)