Rate the following essay on its writing, argument, and language skills:
In "The Challenge of Exploring Venus", the author suggests that studying our sister planet is worth the risks and dangers it possesses. Often referred to as Earth's "twin" or the "Evening Star", Venus has proven many times that exploration is close to impossible for spacecrafts, let alone humans. "Each previous mission was unmanned, and for good reason, since no spacecraft survived the landing for more than a few hours". This sentence in paragraph 2 already shows signs of uncertainty in the author's claim. Although the author mentions that Venus may instill curiosity in humans, the dangers and inhospitable conditions that he also mentions contradict the point he is trying to get across.

Throughout the entire passage, the author provides both negative and positive facts about the idea of human exploration of Venus. Although providing negative aspects might be his idea of a counterargument, the bad outweighs the good in this scenario. "Beyond high pressure and heat, Venusian geology and weather present additional impediments like erupting volcanoes, powerful earthquakes, and frequent lightning strikes to probes seeking to land on its surface" (paragraph 3). This statement, full of reasons not to explore Venus, provides a contradictory tone and idea. The author even starts the sentence with "Beyond high pressure and heat", which demonstrates the fact that he is adding on more negative aspects to a previously mentioned negative aspect.

The uncertain author also mentions that "most forms of light cannot penetrate the dense atmosphere, rendering standard forms of photography and videography ineffective". This piece of information alone defeats a large purpose of exploration: getting photographic evidence. "More importantly, researchers cannot take samples of rock, gas, or anything else, from a distance". This statement also defeats a huge purpose of exploration: getting physical evidence. Without this ability, scientists would have to get very close to the surface despite the risks. One things that the author mentions to support his claim is that the risks should be thought of or seen as challenges. This change from a negative word to a positive helps to support his claim and provide insight to his passionate opinion.

The author mentions more cons than pros, but he seems to stick with his claim and brush off each negative in the last part of the passage, paragraph 8. "Our travels on Earth and beyond should not be limited to dangers and doubts but should be expanded to meet the very edges of imagination and innovation". This concluding statement shows that the author is urging humans to be fearless and hungry for exploration and innovation. The author also believes that "human curiosity will likely lead us into many equally intimidating endeavors" anyway. Although this claim sounds more like an assumption, he is trying to show that if humans can explore other dangerous areas of Earth and space, then they can also overcome that obstacles that prevent them from doing the same to Venus.

Although the author mentions that Venus may instill curiosity in humans, the dangers and inhospitable conditions that he also mentions contradict the point he is trying to get across. All in all, the author fails to fully support his claim that Venus is a worthy pursuit desipte the dangers it presents. The facts and evidence prove his claim wrong, and he only provides an inspirational conclusion to create a distraction from the reailty of the situation. With the author providing facts like spacecrafts surviving only a few hours and frequent natural disasters on the planet, he tears down his own claim and gives more reasons as to why this exploration cannot work than why it can.

Score: 6