What kind of augery / reconnaissance tests are necessary to get how much information when visiting anew planet, and how much time and resources are necessary for said tests? i feel i've completely missed this section of the book somehow.

I don't think that got mentioned anywhere in the rules, mate.

I'd just call for the usual scrutiny+detection check; have the players do a focused augury on the planet. (It should take at least 90 minutes to sweep an earth sized planet from low orbit. Plus extra time to sift through all the data. Planets are BIG.) Obviously, the more degrees of success they get, the more information they have. A routine scan should pick up the basics of the biosphere and climate, plus any cities and a fair indication of the world's technology level. Secret or hidden installations, of course, should be tougher to find and may require a closer look.

Cheers,

- V.

And to add to what Vandegraffe said: It's probably better to treat an augur test more conceptually than along a fixed pattern (i.e. this many successes will tell you that about a planet). In other words, the more degrees of success in an augur test the more should be revealed about the planet that would help the endeavor. So the one augur test might reveal the hidden base at 3 degrees of success, but the augur test at the other planet might not reveal the hidden base at all because it should be found through roleplaying.