In "The Challenge of Exploring Venus," the author attempts to convince the reader that studying Venus is worth all the dangerous problems one would face trying to study the beautiful planet.

The author starts off his argument by stating how "challenging" it is to examine Venus at a close proximidy, and procides to state all the factors of studying Venus and explain why it is so dangerous to explore this planet. The author first states facts about Venus that would affect a mission to the surface. These comments are mostly about it's atmosphere, stating that the thick atmophere is "almost 97% carbon dioxide" and contains high amounts of sulfuric acid, which as a result, causes the temperature to average at "over 800 degrees Fahrenheit." And to top that off, the atmospheric pressure is "90 times greater then planet Earth's," suggesting that a submarine that was made to endure Earth's deepest parts of the ocean would be crushed on planet Venus. Later on, the author explains why we should even try to learn more about this supposedly miss understood planet. The author claims that astronomers are "fascinated" by Venus because they believe that it could have been the planet most like Earth in the solar system at one point in the past; possessing "large oceans" and being able to "support various forms of life," and that even now Venus still has traits that could hint to the idea that it used to be a lot like Earth, such as having a "rocky sediment" surface, along with valleys, mountains, and craters. Although the author could have gone more into depth in this subject; inferring that astronomers should study Venus' surface because humanity wants to know why this change may have happened, and if we could avoid Earth following the same path, his argument as to why we should study Venus' surface is highly valid and valued as a strong reason despite the dangers.

Overall, the author of the passage, "The Challenge of Exploring Venus," has a strong, thought out reason why humanity should explore Venus close up in the years to come.