I just think its kind of dumb that there is no option to auto save built into the game.
If I recall correctly, one of the primary reasons against an autosave functionality is the same reason having the ability to quicksave and load is useful - situations where you want to go back and try again against a particularly tough challenge. Imagine if you saved before a trek into the outworlds, got stuck and wanted to quickload back to before you left, only to find the game had autosaved since then and you were still stuck.
Not to say there aren't ways that you can have both - Kerbal Space Program, as I understand it, has an autosave functionality independent of the saves created by a quicksave - just that the difficulty of incorporating such a function at this time may outweigh the benefits. (There will be multiple reasons.)
In the meantime, afraid it's just a matter of "learn to quicksave". The Autosave mod is a helping hand in that regard. Personally, I've never had a problem with the lack of autosave in Starsector.