Journal
EXPERIMENTAL ASTRONOMY
Volume 54, Issue 2-3, Pages 791-807Publisher
SPRINGER
DOI: 10.1007/s10686-021-09768-y
Keywords
lo; Mission; Geophysics; Jupiter system; Magnetosphere; Interactions
Categories
Funding
- Swiss National Science Foundation [200020_178847]
- Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF) [200020_178847] Funding Source: Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF)
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A comprehensive investigation of Io can provide answers to many mysteries, shed light on landscape-forming processes, and offer insight into the formation processes of Earth, Moon, planets and moons.
Io is the most volcanically-active object in the solar system. The moon ejects a tonne per second of sulphur-rich gases that fill the vast magnetosphere of Jupiter and drives million-amp electrical currents that excite strong auroral emissions. We present the case for including a detailed study of Io within Voyage 2050 either as a standalone mission or as a contribution to a NASA New Frontiers mission, possibly within a Solar System theme centred around current evolutionary or dynamical processes. A comprehensive investigation will provide answers to many outstanding questions and will simultaneously provide information on processes that have formed the landscapes of several other objects in the past. A mission investigating Io will also study processes that have shaped the Earth, Moon, terrestrial planets, outer planet moons, and potentially extrasolar planets. The aim would be simple - tracing the mass and energy flows in the Io-Jupiter system.
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