As far as I can see (and as evidenced by the Yogswarm which - admittedly - I was a part of) Starmade is not ready for a massive influx of players. Nor are the Devs. The Yogswarm practically overwhelmed the devs and the community. Hell, I think back then it was just Schema. I don't remember. Do you remember the chat, especially support? It was a cluster fuck. Some serious preparations would be required for an influx of players and, frankly, I think it'd interfere with the progress that is being made.
The game is more stable than it was a year ago, but it's still lacking core features.
It could be beneficial to allow modding, if possible, to take advantage of modders coming from Minecraft. Possibly more so than Minecraft, Starmade has immense potential for modding. Let's not forget that Starmade has the advantage of being a game to start with, while vanilla Minecraft is a dozen shades of beige. The only thing that kept me playing Minecraft was playing with friends. I still have fun with Starmade in single player.