i saw this mission and was curios as to what this mystery material actually is?

A consumable material that some higher end missions require, like with Exotic Matter.

the refinement mission creates a material that you will need for another mission. You need hundreds.

I'm actually afraid to try this mission because it states that if the mission fails, you lose crew. I'm assuming this means your engineers, researchers, etc. die and your stats go down permanently.

You dont NEED XTS-9, the missions are optional and IMO not worth it due to failure/bad energy XP ratio.

Sorry, but yes you do... IF you want to do the following Repair Warp Gate mission which is a something of a cash cow. I am currently doing that mission. It requires XTS-9. The xp return of the first mission is not great, but considering both missions, it is NOT the only return ... In Part B, the RWG mission, you get thousands of credits each time also, and then there are also exp bonuses of several hundred exp, which are FAR more frequent than the risk from Part A. The following whole RWG mission nets something in the order of 6 million credits, has no risk, and nets you a warp gate defense bonus.

SPOILER:
The XTS-9 mission, for 1000 energy, I got 1750 exp, and enough XTS-9 to do the RWG mission once. The RWG mission costs 600 energy, nets about 2500 exp with bonuses, and over 300 K credits, and at the end you get the WG defense. So if you combine one run of both missions, it costs 1600 energy, nets about 4250 exp, plus 300 K credits, and the artifact. Thats a 2.65 exp ratio plus the juicy bits. Not bad actually.
END SPOILER

The failure rate is really low for this mission thankfully. You may not actually lose a crew member. If you read the forum, you will find that crew are a really poor investment anyway, and you can get android replacements.

There are lots of missions that are designed primarily as credit rewards, some for experience, and others for artifacts. This mission thread is one example of a credit based thread. Starbase Royale is another example.

If you just think about exp, you will miss a whole other aspect of the game. Some players dont have mega rich planets and need missions like this. You can replace pretty well everything in this game I am finding.

Yeah, it sucks when it happens, but like some PVPer disabling you several times... it happens sometimes, and you lose things, but not very often, you will get over it and move on... I think its way worse when someone takes one of your best planets and you cant do a darn thing about it.

Live dangerously.... there are rewards. Have fun doing the missions.

Editted the first paragragh for clarification.

It's really ice-9. Someone's retarded brother discovered it. He read comic books. It can destroy a planet by turning water to ice at a different temperature than normal. It exists by itself unless it comes into contact with normal water. Don't be tricked. Ice-10 will undo all of this though. Unfortunately, it is still poison.

Does it come with a free cocktail with the little umbrellas to deal with the heat?

Is the Warp Gate defense bonus a permanent artifact, or is it an one-time-only artifact that lasts a set period of time?

one time and lasts a day

Risk losing engineer crew (or any crew) for an artifact with effects that only lasts one day? Screw that. If the artifact was permanent then it might be worth the risk.