I get disconnected from "Discovery" and the "R" key doesn't do anything to "reconnect" I have a good internet connection. there are systems named after people and I don't even know if I am the first one to "discover" it or not. and when I enter a system it says Discovered by "Explorer" "GOG.com" but the systems seem to have already been named. "Explorer" I assume is a generic name for the play character offline. first world I go to is "discovered by neosapian" after this it is always "Explorer" "you have lost online connection to discovery press R to connect" "R" does nothing!
also there should be network options in the settings area so you can adjust these.

The issue with no connection to discovery services is almost always the result of something at the Hello Games end of things. It seems to be more common when there's a lot of network activity at HG, such as around the time of an update. The scheduled release date for the Nintendo Switch is 7 October, so that checks.

For discoveries, anything which you have discovered and "uploaded" while discovery services are not available will be queued on your end and uploaded whenever the service is reconnected. IIRC, the discoveries are timestamped so that correct attribution will be made in the event of two players discovering the same system or animal or ...

Note: The last time there was a release for a new console family was the NEXT update (V1.5, 2018). That coincided with a universal reset, major changes to planetary generation, new elements, new crafting, and so on. Only HG knows what's forthcoming with the Switch release but it might be significant. Or, maybe not!

Network options are available even when there are connection issues. Make sure you open multiplayer session - on the main screen you need to pick "multiplayer" -> new session -> pick your saved game. If you do not see "multiplayer" button, then you need to go back to title screen.

If you are playing on windows 7 then you need to install windows update and run a fix (something to do with certificates). Forum thread:
https://www.gog.com/forum/no_mans_sky/fyi_if_you_are_new_to_nms_and_running_windows_7_you_will_need_this_hot_fix_to_play_multiplayer/page1

I had this issue that I was always disconnected from Discovery. I installed update+fix and now it works.