This seems to be an artifact missing in the range of Spy Probes.

Raiders might love this as it will help to determine the more suitable targets. There seems to be a antipathy against raiding in some threads and this might help the PvP aspect of the game.

It might also balance the rush for Deck Space when leveling.

Unless they focused a dyson on artifacts or something crazy, you can usually extrapolate about what their crew would be from their ship-size and level, but it is never very precise.