Monoliths

Interacting with a monolith will prompt the player with either a test or the ability to learn a new word related to the faction in that star system. If the Monlith prompts for a test, successfully answering the test will reward the player with a new word and a tradable commodity. Knowledge stones can often be found scattered neaby bigger monoliths but not all of the time.

You can find dead portals around the Galaxy which were shown in earlier gameplay demos. They are seemingly unusable at the moment.
(Left is a still of early footage. Right being a users photo in-game currently.)