Humans have taken extreme measures to achieve their goal of landing on the moon. At the time, many people did not believe that it was ever going to be possible. Today, many astronaut have successfully landed on the moon. The challenge of exploring Venus is another one of these cases that some humans believe is possible, but others do not. The author of "The Challenge of Exploring Venus" explains how scientists today strive to meet this challenge and take it on, even after knowing the chaotic conditions of Venus, in order gain insight on the planet as well as to stifle their own curiosity.

The "Evening Star", or the planet Venus has extremely dangerous surface and atmospheric conditions for humans to explore, but in many ways has similar features to Earth as well. One of the main reasons humans would not be able to survive a trip to Venus's surface without the proper equipment is because the average surface temperature is over 800 degrees Fahrenheit. Because of this, Venus has the hottest surface temperature out of all of the other planets. Another aspect of the dangerous conditions of Venus's surface is that it has frequently-errupting volcanoes, powerful earthquakes, and lightning strikes. Thes conditions would be dangerous for humans if they were on the surface for to long. These are some of the reasons why past attempts of exploration were unsuccessful.

Even though Venus has many dangerous conditions on the surface, there are also many landforms that make it comparable to Earth. Some of these are a scatter of valleys, mountains, and craters. Scientists also believe that Venus used to be covered with vast oceans and potentially could have supported various forms of life.

Even though there are so many components, surface conditions are not the only chaotic feature of the "Evening Star". The atmosphere of Venus is also extremely dangerous for humans to surpass. The clouds are filled with corrosive sulfuric acid and the atmosphere is dense with 97% carbon dioxide. The atmospheric pressure is 90 times greater than what is experienced on Earth. These extreme conditions make it far too dangerous for human to explore. To resolve this issue, scientists at NASA today have begun to innovate ideas to find a way to successfully send humans to observe the features of Venus.

One of the approaches NASA is taking to the problem is to simulate Venus's surface conditions in order to test different engineered materials to see how well they withstand the constant heat and pressure. Another approach that the scientists have researched is flying a "blimp-like vehicle" about 30 miles about the surface of Venus to avoid having to land on the scorching surface. This method had many plusses because the "solar power would be plentiful and radiation would not exceed Earth levels".

Just like there are many plusses that come this idea, there are also a few negatives. Because flying higher than 30 miles above the surface is one of the only options in getting close enought to observe, the distance will cause "limited insight on ground conditions". The thick atmosphere would prevent photography to be clear and decipherable. Another negative is that the scientists have no way to collect any samples from the surface for evidence. Flying above the atmosphere would get the astronauts close, but it would be ineffective.

Each day, scientist work hard to come up with new materials and ideas to achieve their goal to successsfully explore Venus. Even though there are many dangers because of the harsh atmospheric and surface conditions, scientists and astronauts work towards this goal because they are determined and believe it is possible to overcome these obstacles to get to what they've worked hard for.