Topps Cosmic Chrome explained: Refractors and planets
How Topps Cosmic Chrome works in baseball, basketball and football: the space-named Refractor ladder, Planetary Pursuit card codes, the boxes and autographs.
By the Rip.fan Editorial Team.
Published 6 min read
Topps Cosmic Chrome is a space-themed chromium set, and it keeps its base set colors on the same print runs from sport to sport. In the three editions covered here, 2025 baseball, 2025-26 basketball and 2025 football, each base set has 200 cards, and the numbered Refractors run from Aqua Equinox at 199 down to a SuperFractor one of one with nearly the same names and runs. Autographs are not in every box: in 2025 baseball they come about four per case. The brand-staple insert, Planetary Pursuit, gives each featured player one card for each of ten bodies from the Sun to Pluto, but its card codes change between sports.
What is in each edition?
| 2025 baseball | 2025-26 basketball | 2025 football | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Released | December 17, 2025 | April 29, 2026 | June 19, 2026 |
| Base set | 200 cards | 200 cards | 200 cards, with rookies at 101 to 200 |
| Hobby box | 20 packs | 20 packs of 4 cards | 20 packs of 4 cards |
| Boxes per case | Not agreed | Not agreed | 8 |
| Listed per hobby box | 1 insert, 3 more parallels and 1 Nucleus Refractor | 14 inserts, 3 more parallels, 2 base Refractors and 1 Nucleus Refractor | Only one site lists it |
| Autographs | About 4 per case | Not in the box listing | Not in the box listing |
Football cards 101 to 200 are the rookie block.
What are FDI and Lunar boxes?
Two formats with their own Refractors. In basketball, First Day Issue (FDI) boxes hold the hobby contents plus 2 FDI parallels, and each pack in a Lunar box holds one Lunar Refractor, listed as a short print. The FDI Refractor is listed at 1:662 FDI packs and the Lunar Refractor at 1:764 Lunar packs. In baseball, Lunar boxes have listed rates alongside hobby rates. Our guide to hobby and retail boxes explains how hobby and retail formats differ.
How does the Refractor ladder run?
The same way in all three sports. These are the base set Refractors:
| Refractor | 2025 baseball | 2025-26 basketball | 2025 football |
|---|---|---|---|
| Refractor, Nucleus, White Hole | Not numbered | Not numbered | Not numbered |
| Aqua Equinox | 199 | 199 | 199 |
| Purple Nebula | 150 | The sites disagree | 150 |
| Blue Moon | 99 | 99 | 99 |
| Green Space Dust | 75 | 75 | 75 |
| Gold Interstellar | 50 | 50 | 50 |
| Orange Galactic | 25 | 25 | 25 |
| Black Eclipse | 10 | 10 | 10 |
| Lunar Eclipse | Not on the base list | Not on the base list | 10 |
| Red Flare | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| SuperFractor | 1 of 1 | 1 of 1 | 1 of 1 |
For the unnumbered three, the plain Refractor is listed at 1:10 packs in baseball and basketball, the Nucleus at 1:15 in baseball and 1:20 in basketball, and the White Hole at 1:60 and 1:126.
The rule that follows: on Cosmic Chrome base cards, the Refractor color tells you the run whatever the sport. A base Blue Moon is numbered to 99 in baseball, basketball and football alike. That is not true of every set: our guides to Donruss Optic and Panini Spectra show colors whose runs change from sport to sport. The basketball Purple Nebula is the exception: the two sites number it differently, so read its stamp. Our guide to serial-numbered cards explains how.
What is Planetary Pursuit?
An insert set that gives each of 10 players one card for each of ten bodies of the solar system, from the Sun to Pluto, 100 cards in all. Each step out from the Sun is rarer, and each body has its own card code prefix.
| Body | Baseball and basketball prefix | Football prefix | 2025 baseball listed rate | 2025-26 basketball listed rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sun | PPS | PPSU | 1:120 packs | 1:80 packs |
| Mercury | PPM | PPM | 1:480 | 1:328 |
| Venus | PPV | PPV | 1:720 | 1:640 |
| Earth | PPE | PPEA | The sites disagree | 1:1,281 |
| Mars | PPMA | PPMA | 1:1,680 | 1:2,400 |
| Jupiter | PPJ | PPJ | 1:4,800 | 1:4,800 |
| Saturn | PPST in baseball, PPSA in basketball | PPS | 1:7,500 | 1:7,984 |
| Uranus | PPU | PPU | 1:12,000 | 1:16,049 |
| Neptune | PPN | PPN | 1:20,000 | 1:23,027 |
| Pluto | PPP | PPP | 1:28,000 | 1:29,423 |
- PPS changes meaning. It is the Sun in baseball and basketball, but Saturn in football, where the Sun is PPSU.
- Mars is PPMA in all three, which leaves PPM for Mercury.
- Football uses initials. Its cards read like PPSU-AJ for Ashton Jeanty, while baseball and basketball number the 10 players, as in PPS-1.
A listing that says only “Planetary Pursuit” misses the body, which is what sets the card apart, so ask for the prefix.
What else is in Cosmic Chrome?
Space names throughout. Extraterrestrial Talent is an insert in all three sports, and Star Clusters, Planetarium and Supernova appear in baseball and football. Cosmic Dust is among the rarest football and basketball inserts, beside Supernova in football and Hypernova in basketball. The short print entry explains the term.
The base set also has Constellation Variations. There are 25 in 2025 baseball, at 1:800 packs, and 100 in 2025 football, with BCV- card numbers. In baseball, the variations share card numbers with the base cards, so the number alone does not tell them apart.
The autographs follow the theme. A Cosmic Chrome Autographs set runs in all three sports as the main set, with Extraterrestrial Talent Autographs in baseball, Alien Autographs in basketball and First Flight Signatures in basketball and football. The football autographs are on-card signatures, which our guide to sticker and on-card autographs explains.
How to check a Cosmic Chrome card before you buy
- Name the sport and the edition year.
- For Planetary Pursuit, read the prefix with the sport in mind. PPS on a football card is Saturn.
- Match a base Refractor’s color to its run, which holds across sports, and read the stamp on a basketball Purple Nebula.
- Check whether the card is a Lunar, FDI or Constellation version, since each comes from its own format or list.
- Measure the borders with our centering checker, and price the exact card from recent sales, as our guide to finding what a card sold for explains.
Price Cosmic Chrome cards from recent sold listings. Our guides to Topps Chrome and Topps Finest cover two more Topps chromium sets, and the sports cards hub lists the rest.
Frequently asked questions
What is in a 2025 Cosmic Chrome baseball Lunar box?
One Lunar Eclipse Refractor in every pack, a parallel made only for Lunar boxes, which made their debut in 2025.
Is Cosmic Chrome licensed?
2025-26 basketball is the first Cosmic Chrome edition with NBA licensing, and 2025 football the first with NFL licensing. Both sports had an unlicensed edition in 2024.
Which edition of Cosmic Chrome baseball is the 2025 set?
The fourth MLB edition. Topps also makes Cosmic Chrome for the NBA, the NFL and WWE.
How many Refractors does a 2025 Cosmic Chrome football card come in?
13 different Refractor versions of every base card, on top of the base card itself.
How were 2025-26 Cosmic Chrome basketball FDI boxes sold?
By Dutch auction on March 27, 2026, ahead of the hobby release, and they sold out quickly.