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Io
Io render
Position: Satellite of Jupiter
Distance from Sun: 5.2 AU
Distance from Earth: ~630 million Km
Surface Gravity: 0.183
Surface Composition: Sulfur
Atmospheric Pressure: 0 Bar
Surface Temperature: -143C
Axis Rotation: Static
Sun Orbit Period: 4332.71 days
Jupiter Orbit Period: 1.77 days
Diameter: 3630 Km

Initially promising for its colourful and craterless surface, researchers later discovered that Io's apparent tranquillity is, in actuality, evidence of its inhospitable and potentially maddening later. Scattered across the moon's frozen surface, dozens of active volcanoes spout molten sulfur from the core, sending it hundreds of kilometres into space. Once cooled, the sulfur pours back down like snow, forever resurfacing the terrain with the otherwise harmless substance.

This condition could have proven a costly and time-consuming irritation for colonists. Significant measures had to be taken to avoid facilities and equipment being buried.

Fortunately, a few options were suggested by NSDF engineers. While sulfur is far more than sedentary water, they claimed that an adequate drainage system could be fitted at minimal cost. Similar in concept to the conventional drainpipes used for rain, jets of liquid would cycle through them to stimulate movement.

NSDF chemists have offered another solution. By applying a layer of a corrosive compound, they believed they can dissolve the sulfur on contact and without consequence. Both of these techniquies proved successful, but never met with much use.

Aside from this annoyance, the only factors that are less than ideal are Io's enormous distance from Earth, its bitter cold temperatures, and its lack of life-sustaining resources. The first two conditions Io shares with its sibling contender with Europa, and are even more pressing for the remote moon of Titan.

A final concern: bases on Io need to be established far from the equator. It is caught in a three-way tug-of-war between the gravitational pulls of Europa, Ganeymede and Jupiter. This forces an unstable tidal current on the moon's outer layer which can bend and stretch its width by as much as 100 meters.

Maps[]

Battlezone

Battlezone: Battle Grounds

Battlezone: Rise of the Black Dogs

Appearances[]

Astronomical Bodies
Sol Mercury · Venus · Earth (Luna) · Mars · Asteroid Belt / Icarus · Jupiter (Io · Europa · Ganymede) · Saturn (Mimas · Titan) · Uranus (Achilles) · Neptune · Pluto · Dark Planet
Core Rend's primary (Rend) · Core · Mire · Bane (Barak)
Unknown Elysium · Alpha 007 · Ro'chukn Moon · "Hoth" · "Complex"
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