Chronic Reload had an interview with Daniel Erickson at the EA Winter Showcase about missions and crafting, where some more details and precisions were laid out. Check out the thread for quotes and a link to the interview on the official forums. Here are some of the highlights from the interview:

Gathering and Crafting

• Further indications that it's your companions, not you as a player, who are doing all the actual gathering and crafting.
  
  
• There are Mission Skills that come automatically with Gathering Skills.
  
  
• When finding resources while out in the field, you can remotely assign companions on your ship to gather them.

• There's a cost and a time for sending your companions on missions.
  
  
• Missions run from being 5 minutes to 24 hours in length.
  
  
• Diplomacy missions are for getting Dark Side or Light Side points.
  
  
• All companions have bonuses for different Crew Skills (e.g. Treasure Hunting).
  
  
• Sending a companion to do Treasure Hunting is a kind of dice roll which depends on how much time is invested.
  
  
• Treasure Hunting mission "dice rolls" also have crits, bringing you higher quality loot occasionally.