The author is evaluating how to explore Venus because it is the most familiar planet to Earth. But he is up in the air about trying to do some reasearch on the planet Venus because they have sent aircrafts to the planet before but none of them have been able to topuch down on Venus.

First, scientist have thought the planet Venus was covered in large oceans at one point in time and could support various life forms on the planet. in the text it says, "Venus has a big gas ring around the atmosphere." This is showing that it makes it harder for NASA to land on Venus because of the gas that surrounds the planet.

Next, NASA has thought about sending an aircraft to Venus but they have ran into some problems on the way. One of the problems they have ran into is that they cant get close enough to the planet to get any samples or even see whats on the ground. In the text it says, "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 the sea level on Earth." This is showing that none of the equimpment that NASA has is strong enough to get close to Venus.

In conclusion, NASA has not been able to find a way to get close enough to Venus to do any work or get any samples of the planet. But they are working on making a metal strong enought to last a long period of time left on the planet.