In "The Challenge of Exploring Venus," the author suggests that studying Venus is a worthy pursuit despite the dangers presented to humans. Throughout the article, the author uses multiple scientific facts to support their idea. While the facts may be persuasive and hard to dispute, the author seems to lack good enough reasoning as to why humans should visit Venus.

The main strategy the author uses to support their claim is scientific facts and evidence to prove how dangerous Venus is. This is a strong way to persuade people because facts are proven to be true and they are undisputable. Paragraph three is full of statements that inform the reader how dangerous Venus is. The author states that "temperatures average over 800 degrees Fahrenheit, and the atmospheric pressure is 90 times greater than what we experience on our own planet." These pieces of information give the reader a sense of what Venus is like in terms of numbers and statistics. In case those were not enough, the author gives a shocking fact to prove their point about how inhospitable Venus truly is: "...such and environment would crush even a submarine accustomed to diving to the deepest parts of our oceans and would liquefy many metals." This statement puts the dangers of Venus into perspective for the reader. It allows the reader to comprehend just how dangerous Venus is by explaining what would happen if something from Earth were to endure the environment on Venus. After reading the many statisctics and shocking facts, the reader can easily understand just how risky traveling to Venus would be.

Even though facts are a good way to support the claim, the author fails to provide the reader with strong reasons about why going to Venus would benefit humans. In paragraph four the author states that "astronomers are fascinated by Venus because it may well once have been the most Earth-like planet in our solar system." While this may be true, the average reader would not become convinced that that's a good enough reason to endure the journey to Venus, possibly wasting money, time, and lives. To some scientists or others interested in space, curiosity and the mysteriousness of Venus are good enough reasons to risk it all, but to the average person there needs to be more logical reasoning. The reasoning is still not quite strong enough in paragraph eight when the author writes, "striving to meet the challenge by Venus has value...because of the insight to be gained on the planet itself, but also because human curiosity will likely lead us into many equally intimidating endeavors." Again, this statement is true, but it is not nearly convincing enough. Because the author described to the reader how dangerous Venus really is, they need to give very strong reasons why it would be a good idea to venture there. With that being said, the author's reasoning to journey to Venus is very broad and not nearly concinving enough to the average reader.

Overall, the author of "The Challenge of Exploring Venus" does not adequately support their idea that studing Venus is a worthy pursuit despite the dangers. They provide the reader with amazing pieces of information about Venus and how dangerous it is, but fail to give enough reasoning as to why the journey would be worth these drastic risks. After reading the article, it is most likely that readers feel well informed about Venus and its mysteries, but unconvinced that the pursuit is worth the dangers.