Rumour has it, these ancient gates are residual technology from a long extinct civilization. Perhaps a kind of altar. It is thought they were used to equalise the balance of power amongst inhabitants by temporarily revoking access to weapons or abilities.

When standing on the gate, you can see what it will affect:

Removes the blaster. Perhaps a short-range weapon could slip through unnoticed?

Removes the jet-pack. Only a very small hop is possible without it.

Removes the shield. Proceed with caution!

Deep within many planets in this system lie large creatures known as Core Beasts. The ancient civilization here used the Core Beasts' crystalline Core Shards to power entire planets.

Core beasts have been extinct for a very long time, however a large amount of residual power remains within their core shards, still somehow powering the ancient gates.

The Core Chamber is almost always completely inaccessible, but it is possible to siphon off energy directly from the gates, where most of the current inhabitants' power is sourced.