I thought I'd give a little preview of an Io Orbiter and Lander that I've been working on for the past few months. I originally conceived of this project years ago (I think 2003 was the first time I thought of it), long before I had even heard of Orbiter. I've always been fascinated by Io because of how geologically active it is, and its incredibly hostile environment, and have always thought it deserved its own mission.
The mission to Io involves launcher the Orbiter, along with a large booster stage, on top of a Delta-IV Heavy, on a Venus-Earth-Earth Gravity assist profile to Jupiter. Upon obtaining a low-circular orbit around Io, the booster stage detaches from the main probe. A few orbits later, after the orbiter has confirmed the landing site is still safe to land on, the lander detaches and makes a powered descent onto the surface of Io. The discarded booster stage, then de-orbits itself, crashing into the surface of Io, and hopefully provide seismic data for the lander. The orbiter finally adjusts its orbit into a higher inclination (95 degrees), and commences an orbital study of Io.
The mission to Io involves launcher the Orbiter, along with a large booster stage, on top of a Delta-IV Heavy, on a Venus-Earth-Earth Gravity assist profile to Jupiter. Upon obtaining a low-circular orbit around Io, the booster stage detaches from the main probe. A few orbits later, after the orbiter has confirmed the landing site is still safe to land on, the lander detaches and makes a powered descent onto the surface of Io. The discarded booster stage, then de-orbits itself, crashing into the surface of Io, and hopefully provide seismic data for the lander. The orbiter finally adjusts its orbit into a higher inclination (95 degrees), and commences an orbital study of Io.