Argon Crystal

Argon Crystals are a rare resource that drops in the Orokin Void and from certain Assassination targets. Unlike other resources, they decay after a limited period of time. After this period the resources will disappear from the user's inventory and must be reacquired if needed.

The timer points towards Midnight UTC/GMT+0 time indefinitely. This supports its description "Void based radioactive resource that decays every day it is out of the void."

Gathering Tips

 * Argon Crystals drop more commonly from containers and lockers. Thief's Wit, Master Thief, and a Kubrow with Scavenge can help in finding containers that may contain Argon Crystals.
 * Bringing a Nekros with Desecrate can improve your chances in finding Argon Crystals.

Blueprints Requiring Argon Crystals
Click to view the Blueprints requiring Argon Crystals. 

Trivia

 * Argon (symbol: Ar) is the 18th element in the periodic table. It is a noble gas whose most commonly occurring isotope is stable and does not decay as the Argon Crystal does (though it has a number of unstable isotopes that do decay, most notably Ar-37 and Ar-41, with half-lifes of 35 days and 109.6 minutes respectively.)
 * Its decay may be the result of it sublimating at room temperature, as the freezing point of argon is about 83.81 kelvin (-189.34 °C).
 * This is the first resource that has the ability to degrade over time.
 * Due to a DDoS Attack on Warframe's PC Servers on April 15, 2014, Argon Crystals didn't decay until servers stabilized -- although their countdown remained active. This lasted until Update 13.1.2 was launched, as the servers had fully recovered by that time.
 * Argon additionally dropped from invasion/infestation type missions, and the Phorid boss, and was considered a much more efficient way to collect them. This bug was removed in a "stealth update" (that is, it wasn't listed as a bug fix in the update log) in Hotfix 14.7.4.