Do you remember the space trip to Mars? Well, another debate is brewing: Should we go to Venus or not? There are two perspectives on this issue. They are the people that want travel Venus (the author), and the people that don't want travel to Venus. There are two inherant issues too. They are the need for futher space exploration, and safety. The author has provided enough information on both sides of the argument, but he thinks that studying Venus is a "worthy pursuit despite the dangers it presents."

This first inherant issue, according the author, is crutial. The people wanting to travel to space believe that we need to go to Venus because it is the planet closest to Earth, in characteristics and in distance. There have been attempts to go the Venus, but everytime the spaceship lands it only survives for a few hours. They believe that we need to get up on Venus and study it. There is only so much we can do from Earth, and right now it's not enough. The author has a lot of evidence supporting the need for space exploration such as "Our travels on Earth and beyond should not be limited by dangers and doubts but should be expanded to meet the very edges of imagination and innovation." (paragraph 8) The author beleive that all of the risks he list in the article doesn't matter becayse we need to take risks sometimes.

The first inherant issue, according to people who don't want to explore Venus, is also a vital part of the arguement. They believe that we have already tried going to Venus, it failed, and why try again. They believe that we have enough information from what we can do on Earth, why do we need to know everything in the universe? They believe that we have already found enough information that we need to know.

The second issue is safety. According to NASA, they have a solution for getting a spaceship to Venus carefully and safely. "Imagine a blimp-like vehicle hovering 30 or so miles above the roiling Venusian landscape. Just as our jet airplanes travel at a higher altitude to fly over many storms, a vehicle hovering over Venus would avoid the unfriendly ground conditions by staying up and out of their way. At thirty-plus miles above the surface, temperatures would still be toasty at around 170 degrees Fahrenheit, but the air pressure would be close to that of sea level on Earth. Solar power would be plentiful, and radiation would not exceed Earth levels. Not easy conditions, but survivable for humans." (paragraph 5). NASA has a soultion for the safety issue that was recently brought to their attention. The people who want to go and explore Venus now believe that this is one of the final steps toward actually getting off of the ground. If NASA trains astronauts well enough, tries to simulate the conditions on Venus, and everything works well; there is noting holding them back. The author expresses his support for the innovation NASA invented. The author thinks that this the object of the future.

The second issue, according to the people who want to stay grounded on Earth, is important for both sides to recognize. The people in the second perspective say it is not safe to go to Venus. We have tried it unmanned, and the unmanned spaceship counldn't live there for longer than a few hours, so it is too dangerous. "On the planets surface, temperatures average over 800 degrees Fahrenheit, and the atmospheric pressure is 90 times greater than what we experience on our own planet. These conditions are far more extreme than anything humans encounter on Earth..." (Paragraph 3). This quote helps support the second perspective for wanting NASA to kept its space ships from going to Venus. As the quote says, Venus is a very dangerous planet.

In conclusion, the arguement is still ongoing, and doesn't seem to have a clear answer. I believe the stasis lies between finding a need for going to Venus, that isn't just the need for exploration, and a proven safe way to get and stay on Venus. The two perspectives are the author and the people opposing the author. The two issues are is there a need for exploaration and the safety of going to Venus. Therefore, with all the evidence provided to you, you can make a clear decision about if you want NASA going to Venus, or if you want NASA to stay grounded, but the author believes that you should side with him in support of Venus exploration.