Confirmed: You cannot start Fluid Dynamics. Out in the Cold crashed for me as soon as I beamed down and engaged the first group in combat. Crashed twice, but I was able to complete the mission.
Just in case anyone came here for the reason I did: I cannot find the Ocampa Freighter. It's circling around the Sphere. Just circle around it and keep an eye out for the Ocampa Freighter - it's not hard to find per se, but you have to LOOK for it. Hope this is helpful.
Ok - FIXING it means we can, ya know, get past the Login Server screen. WTF is up with this game lately. Random disconnects, lagging hard, servers going down every few days, and now this. The QC needs serious work.