Callisto

Callisto
Base Data
Radius	161 km
Orbit Data
SOI radius	3,936,447 m

Planets Expansion Required
Some or all of the features on this page requires the Planets Expansion in-app purchase.

Callisto is the second largest and most distant of Jupiter’s Galilean moons. It is colorful and spotty in appearance. Callisto is included in the Planets Expansion DLC.

Like Ganymede and Io, Callisto’s relatively low gravity makes landing and return from the surface easy with low thrust engines.

Around Callisto

Callisto, similar in more ways than one to Ganymede, is prime for Gravity Assists. Low passes can be hazardous, however, as the rims of Callisto’s craters can exceed 100 meters in height.

However, easy orbits around Callisto can be achieved without gravity assists, as at Callisto’s distance from Jupiter, your rocket will not be moving at a very high velocity, even if it is on an escape trajectory.

Callisto’s Surface

Like the Moon or Mercury, Callisto’s surface is heavily cratered. Unlike the moon, however, these craters are remarkably large and have rough surfaces on them. The flat surfaces are usually moderately hilly. The rims are usually very tall and look like mountains. This might have been been based off from the real surface of Callisto, which have similar features as from the image from the bottom, but the outer rims are usually at an angle of 35 degrees before going down at the inner rim, which have an angle of 50 - 60 degrees.

Sometimes, two craters meet together and form a crater in a crater, or even two joined craters.

Coupled with Callisto’s high gravity, traversing and landing can be problematic. Make sure your rocket has a wide base so it does not tip if you land at an odd angle, and land on a flat surface like a place between 2 craters or on a bottom of a crater.

Gallery

A section of of Callisto’s surface.

Trivia

• Callisto, like Io, was not included in any 1.4 game peeks.
• Callisto is far from the most distant moon of Jupiter. That title is held by S/2003 J 2.
• Callisto is one of the most cratered bodies in the Solar System
• Some of the crater plains on Callisto could be as old as the Earth.
• Like the rest of the Galilean moons, Callisto was a lover of Zeus. Hera, enraged by her husband’s affair with Callisto, turned her into a bear. Right before she was going to be killed, she was turned into the constellation Ursa Major.
• Calisto can possibly have high mountain peaks because of impacts on the surface that create shockwaves.