I think they mean more about reworking core mechanics of the game such as the planet generation and the fact that space flight is basically pointless outside of ship combat. I don't foresee them being able to allow ships to fly down to planet surfaces in Creation Engine.
They were talking about the usb modules. The back two on either side (the ones closest to the screen) have an issues where the USB 4 Type C to USB A adapter is not fully going to sleep when nothing is plugged in. So ArsTechnica's reviewer most likely had one of the USB A modules plugged into those two USB 4 ports which causes their apparent poor battery life.