NASA mission to explore an ocean of lava on Jupiter's volcanic moon Io.
                     NASA MISSION TO EXPLORE AN 
OCEAN OF LAVA ON JUPITER'S 
VOLCANIC MOON IO
INTRODUCTION
• Jupiter's moon Io is the most volcanically active world in the Solar System.
• NASA has proposed missions that would investigate Venus, Jupiter's moon 
Io and Neptune's moon Triton. 
Source: Forbes
IO
• It is filled with hundreds of volcanoes, 
some erupting lava fountains up to 250 
miles high. 
• However, researchers found that 
concentrations of volcanic activity are 
significantly displaced from where they 
are expected to be based on models.
Source: Space.com
MISSION BY NASA
• The selected missions have the potential to transform our understanding of 
some of the solar system's most active and complex worlds.
• Exploring any one of these celestial bodies will help unlock the secrets of 
how it, and others like it, came to be in the cosmos.
Source: YouTube
REPORT BY NASA
• The teams behind each proposal will have nine months and $3 million to 
develop their ideas, resulting in a Concept Study Report. 
• Final selections, which could include up to two of these missions, will 
happen in 2021.
Source: Wikipedia
MYTHOLOGY
• In mythology, Io is a mortal woman transformed into a cow during a dispute 
between the Greek god Zeus – Jupiter in Roman mythology – and his wife, 
Hera – Juno to the Romans.
Source: NASA
SIZE OF IO
• A bit larger than Earth's Moon, Io is the third largest of Jupiter's moons, and 
the fifth one in distance from the planet.
• Io always points the same side toward Jupiter in its orbit around the giant 
planet.
Source: NASA
IO BY THE NUMBERS
• Age: Io is about 4.5 billion years old, 
about the same age as Jupiter.
• Distance from Jupiter: Io is the fifth moon 
from Jupiter. Its average orbital distance 
is about 262,000 miles.
• Io takes 1.77 Earth-days to orbit Jupiter.
Source: Wikipedia
THE DISCOVERY OF IO
• Io was the first of Jupiter’s moons discovered by Galileo Galilei on Jan. 8, 
1610. 
• He actually discovered the moon the day prior, but could not differentiate 
between Io and Europa, another Jupiter moon, until the next night. 
Source: CNN.com
CHARACTERISTICS OF IO
• The interior of Io is composed of an 
iron or iron sulphide core and a brown 
silicate outer layer appearing the 
planet a splotchy orange, yellow, 
black, red, and white.
• The moon's most distinctive features 
are its volcanoes.
Source: Space Facts
IO: OCEAN OF LAVA
• Io's environment has come under intense scrutiny in recent years as a result 
the moon has the most active volcanoes in the solar system.
• The surface of Io is splotched with lava lakes and floodplains of liquid rock.
Source: Wikipedia