NASA's Juno spacecraft sets sights on Jupiter's moon Io - the most volcanic place in the solar system

NASA's Juno mission, which is in the second year of its extended mission to investigate the interior of Jupiter, is gearing up to obtain images of the Jovian moon Io on Thursday, December 15.

According to the agency, Io, the most volcanic place in the solar system, will remain an object of the Juno team's attention for the next year and a half. Today's exploration of the moon will be the first of nine planned flybys - two of them from just 930 miles (1,500 kilometres) away.

The mission scientists will use those flybys to perform the first high-resolution monitoring campaign on the magma-encrusted moon, studying its volcanoes and how volcanic eruptions interact with the planet's powerful magnetosphere and aurora.

"After revealing a trove of details about the moons Ganymede and Europa, the mission to Jupiter is setting its sights on sister moon Io," NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which manages the Juno mission, said in a statement.

"The team is really excited to have Juno's extended mission include the study of Jupiter's moons. With each close flyby, we have been able to obtain a wealth of new information," said Juno Principal Investigator Scott Bolton of the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. 

Juno, NASA's most distant planetary orbiter, has been orbiting Jupiter since it arrived in 2016 and will continue its investigation of the solar system's largest planet through September 2025. The solar-powered spacecraft performed a close flyby of the Jovian moon Ganymede in 2021 and of Europa earlier this year.

All eyes on lo, the most volcanic place in the solar system!NASA’s Juno mission will get images of the Jovian moon Io this week as it explores Jupiter’s inner moons. Juno is performing double duty observing Jupiter's moons with even more flybys to come! https://t.co/eQ9q1ApKor pic.twitter.com/J32tpEKq9o

— NASA JPL (@NASAJPL) December 14, 2022