Io (moon)
In the context of gemstone metamaterial technology the Jupiter moon Io is quite interesting due to its unusual sulfur rich chemistry.
Things that pose interesting design challenges in exploration:
- high radiation environment
- falling down down sulfur
- ground tremors
- frequent volcanic eruptions
Just as Europa Io is not a good place for humans to visit due to the extremely high radiation levels.
Not impossible but it would requite massive amounts of shielding in transit and going sub-surface on arrival.
A note on sulfur
See main page: Sulfur
Sulfur can be used as nanoscale surface passivating element for making sliding surfaces that do not stick together on contact.
Sulfur matches better to silicon than to carbon due to its bigger atom size.
Silicates are likely much more abundant on Io than carbon compounds. Ass still quite unclear.
Silicon & Carbon
There is definitely a lot of silicates (and aliuminates) on Io.
A question is: How accessible are these silicates? How much are they are buried below all the sulfur snow?
A question is: Is there any significant abundance of carbon?
Io is most likely quite hydrogen poor.
Iron in the form of pyrite or other iron sulfide minerals might be a common occurrence.
More rare chemical elements (including gold and silver) that chemically like sulfur might occur in greater abundance.
They also may concentrate in sulfur-volcanic cracks potentially giving attractive mining targets.
