To the Skies is an Apollo quest that ties into Shani’s abandoned gondola project. It runs in several short stages: scan two types of downed ARC machines, locate a Gondola Prototype, feed it four ARC components, and switch it on. The first steps go quickly, so most of your time goes into gathering the four parts the prototype needs.
Quick answer: Scan one ARC Probe and one ARC Courier (any map except Stella Montis), then find the Gondola Prototype at one of four marked spots, install four ARC parts, and activate it.
Four ARC parts you must bring
Activating the prototype consumes one of each of these Rare components. You can carry them in from your Speranza stash or scavenge them during the same raid. Each one drops from a specific set of ARC enemies and from looted husks.
- ARC Performance Steel — obtainable from these units: Bastions, Bombardiers, and Hornets; Leapers, Matriarchs, and Queens; Surveyors, Turbines, and Baron Husks.
- ARC Pop Trigger — from downed Pops and from Couriers.
- ARC Synthetic Resin — recover it from these ARC units: Hornets, Fireflies, and Matriarchs; Queens, Sentinels, and Shredders; Snitches, Spotters, and Turbines; Turrets, Wasps, Baron Husks, and Probes.
- ARC Thermo Lining — these units can provide it: Comets, Fireballs, and Matriarchs; Pops, Queens, and Sentinels; Snitches, Ticks, and Turbines; Turrets, Wasps, and Baron Husks.
The Probe and Courier you scan for the first two objectives also drop two of these parts. A Courier can hand you an ARC Pop Trigger, and a Probe can hand you ARC Synthetic Resin, so breaching both after scanning saves a trip.
Scan a crashed ARC Probe and an ARC Courier
Both objectives can be cleared in a single run. Probes and Couriers crash at random across every map apart from Stella Montis, so Dam Battlegrounds, Spaceport, The Blue Gate, Buried City, and Riven Tides are all valid. A crash site throws up a tall column of smoke, which is your cue to head over.
Follow the smoke on foot and watch your map; an icon appears once you are close. Walk up to the Probe or Courier and hold the prompt to scan it. Scanning alone satisfies the objective, after which you can breach it for loot.
Looting a downed ARC locks you out of other actions for a moment, which leaves you exposed. Check the area for other raiders and ARC enemies before you commit. An Electromagnetic Storm event disrupts ARC machines and raises the chance of fresh crash sites, making it a good window to run this quest.
Where to find the Gondola Prototype
After both scans are done, the quest points you to the Gondola Prototype. You only need to reach it at one of four possible spots, so pick whichever map suits your current run. The prototype sits on a flatbed trailer and is marked by an objective waypoint once you are in the right zone.
| Location | Map |
|---|---|
| Red Lakes |  Dam Battlegrounds |
| Farmlands |  The Blue Gate |
| East Plains |  Spaceport |
| Dried Riverbed |  Riven Tides |
On Spaceport, the East Plains trailer is east of Container Storage and north of the Communications Tower. On Riven Tides, the prototype sits at the southernmost end of the Dried Riverbed, tucked under a small bridge.
Install the parts and activate the prototype
Rewards and how to confirm completion
Once the prototype explodes, your HUD quest log marks To the Skies as complete. Head to any extraction point or raider hatch and leave the raid, then open Apollo’s quest tab in Speranza and claim your payout.
- 8,000 XP
- ARC Performance Steel x3
- ARC Synthetic Resin x3
- ARC Thermo Lining x3
- 2 unlocked Codex entries
You come out ahead on materials here, since the quest returns three each of the Performance Steel, Synthetic Resin, and Thermo Lining you fed into the prototype. With those parts back in your stash and the XP claimed, To the Skies is done.
