: What are key features and pacing in a satisfying ending to a science fiction novel? My novel has been through multiple drafts and beta reads, and by and large is in good shape. I've learned

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What makes a great ending, in any genre, is that it fulfills the promises of your book. These are different for each book, so there is no one generic answer. The key is to understand what promises you are making and how you are making them.

In my end is my beginning: People like matched sets, your beginning is a foreshadowing of your beginning. A prologue promises an epilogue. A slow beginning promises a gradual end. An abrupt beginning forewarns of an abrupt end. Furthermore, every ending needs to have something that has come full circle and recapitulates a piece of the beginning, and something that has changed, and that contrasts with the beginning.
Genre promises: A fairy tale promises a happy ending. A mystery story promises a mystery solved. A romance promises a couple established. A tragedy promises death.
Moral promises: Typically, readers like to see moral consequences for the characters; the good rewarded and the bad punished. If your book is going to flout this convention, it needs to be signaled.
Put in the effort: Characters are expected to earn their endings. If a character has worked hard, they deserve some reward, if not, they don't --in the reader's heart. The work doesn't actually have to bring about the reward.
Story arc: Every character has a story arc. These arcs tend to need to largely complete, although some can be left open, or just promised. But in general, your main character needs to have learned something, gained something and lost something.
Explicit promises: You want to be judicious with these, but your characters can describe the ending they are seeking before it happens. "I just want to go home!" "If only the dragon were gone..." etc. However, too much of this will tend to steal the energy of the actual ending.

It's entirely possible to have endings that are idiosyncratic, open-ended, incomplete, depressing, frustrating, or any number of other such traits, and yet that still satisfy. The key is that they need to be promised by the book. The best ending is both wholly expected, because it matches every expectation built in the reader, and wholly surprising, because the reader has not expected how to get there or believed it could actually happen. This doesn't need to be a twist! It's much more about maintaining a sense of real emotional tension and uncertainty that can be discharged at the end than it is about actually fooling the reader.

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Leave the readers imagining the future.
For me, at least, a satisfying ending, besides the things you have mentioned, leaves me imagining the future, for the MC(s), and/or for the world they live in.
It should signal a new phase in life for the MC(s). Something has changed, either in them personally, or in the universe more generally. Perhaps they have learned or come to believe something new that will play a role in their lives.
Death can be that kind of thing; the MC's best friend is dead, or their parents or brother or mentor. But it isn't the only thing that can serve.
I have had, in a coming of age story, best friends come to a new (not sexual) understanding of each other. In a new adult story I have had a protagonist, sexually experienced but not previously in love, incidentally in the course of the story fall in love; and after the mission is over the finale is about her going to a new city, that will be her home as she begin her new life with her new love.
An unsatisfying finale is (IMO) "another day at the office". Okay, we saved the world, see you guys in the morning. Gotta run, it's pizza night at my house!
You could say this is an unwritten contract with the reader; that the whole story, all the trials and tribulations, mean something life changing. It doesn't mean the characters can't go on more adventures and change in other ways, but whatever they have done has ramifications for the future.
It does not necessarily have to be about them. A good scifi story with a satisfying ending might be the discovery of FTL, or some new form of FTL. The story ends with hints of how this begins to have impact on the society: The story mattered and the ramifications are becoming apparent.
That is the payoff at the end of the story. Yes, you wrapped everything up, but the reader still wants to know, "What happens next?"

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I recently finished the second rough draft of my fantasy novel. It's not science fiction, but I think arcs and stories have unifying aspects (especially sci-fi and fantasy).

Now, take my words with a grain of salt, because until I'm published, I cannot claim to be a professional, but these are the things I kept in mind when writing my final chapter:

What plot points remain unresolved, and what makes sense to be resolved in this chapter given the situation? Conversely, what mysteries are best left unsolved? If you intend to resolve something, it's best not to open fifty more questions with your answer, but sometimes you don't need to try an answer anything at all.
What conflicts remain? How can this best be explored and established in this last opportunity?
What themes have my novel been trying to explore? Any aspect of said theme that was opened/discussed in the first chapter ideally can be closed here.
How did my story begin? Whatever it is, give a contrasting scene at the very end of the book, to show things coming full circle.

In my case, this came in the form of, respectively:

Discussing a long-missing figure from the secondary protagonist's past, establishing that as much as it consumed him, they were long-dead and forgotten, making the primary protagonist finally confront her neglectful mother after growing strong from her adventures, the same girl reuniting with the sister she loved and even establishing that while she had her own adventures, the sister'd been doing some growth of her own. However, certain mysteries, like the protagonist's biological father, are not resolved nor do they need to be.
The conflict between the primary protagonist and her mother remains, however this time, she can choose to back out of it (as she's allowed herself to be adopted by an attentive father figure, the secondary protagonist). However, in her attempt to forgive her mother, they instead break out into an argument when it's revealed she was only concerned about the protag's going missing because of the reputation damage she suffered as a 'bad mother'. This establishes that no, this conflict and this flaw will likely never change, but ultimately the protag's growth allows her to not care if it's resolved or not; her mother simply isn't worth it.
Themes of my novel include the idea that people can grow and change, and that the worst people aren't those that have done horrible things in their past or done things to ruin others; it's those that refuse to see the error of their ways and grow as people. Once again, I use the argument between the protag and her unchanged mother, and contrast this with how her sister (and both protags) have changed to make this theme bold and strong throughout the conclusion of the tale.
My story began with my young, overly idle protagonist trying and failing to get a lie-in because her hedonistic, sex-obsessed mother is loudly making love in the room next to hers. It ends with the protagonist excited to get practising for an archery tournament, and so she's getting an early night despite being bitten by a horse while she fed it. The reason she sleeps soundly is because of a good parental influence bandaging her hand up and making sure she's all right.

This was a bit of a ramble, but I hope I at least provided a semi-decent example of both the thought process and the output I had for formulating a good final chapter.

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