I've been sending two ships out to sectors 19 & 21 since 3.2. One ship is fast and can only hit one sector, the other hits both sectors but takes much longer.

Does anyone have any anecdotal, circumstantial, or otherwise evidence that helps to unlock sectors aside from RNG? Is the Survey required slightly higher or is there a minuscule higher chance to unlock sectors by having other players send the ships out?

It's been >100 days trying to unlock two sectors... At this point after sacrificing all Lala's I've seen I'm willing to try anything...