NMS is survival in space, insomuch as planets are in space and you can fly around in a ship, but you start on a planet. I was thinking more like having to survive in space by building the ship in space, building a station in space, etc. Space would be your primary sandbox, rather than planets (at least initially).

The normal NMS experience isn't quite what I'm envisioning. Maybe if you started on one of those abandoned freighters, though...