Fantasy Flight Games will be releasing a new version of Cosmic Encounter (http://www.funagain.com/control/product/~product_id=019492/~affil=DRGH). I took a quick peak at the rulebook to see what they had to offer. It looks like everything that the Avalon Hill version should have been but wasn't. The game will support 3 to 5 players out of the box, while the Avalon Hill version had rules for 2 to 4 players. That was a major drawback because the game was really not any good with 2 players and only marginally better with 3. Another thing in the FFG version that AH didn't offer was Flare cards and Tech cards. These add some additional spice to abilities thus affecting combat. These additions to the game, which were actually in the old Eon version, should keep games interesting and make it so that a power like Virus isn't going to take the game every time its at the table.
(https://www.dragonshobbies.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.funagain.com%2Fcover%2Fmedium%2F19492.jpg&hash=b1c09cf4138cdc6f9fb7ad09fb5893e3bafced24)
Cosmic Encounter image used in association with Funagain Games (http://www.funagain.com/control/product/~product_id=019492/~affil=DRGH)
According to one review that I read, it appears that Technology cards were something that Eon had promised long ago, but they were never produced. Cosmic Encounter has gone through many hands at this point and this may be the first version of the game that actually has those.
If you're interested in checking out the rulebook, here's the link: http://new.fantasyflightgames.com/ffg_content/Cosmic%20Encounter/cosmic-encounter-rulebook.pdf (http://new.fantasyflightgames.com/ffg_content/Cosmic%20Encounter/cosmic-encounter-rulebook.pdf)