In the excerpt, "The Challenge of Exploring Venus," The author does not support their idea that Venus is a worthy pursuit, despite the dangers it presents, all to well, they start off by listing several details that correspond with the exploration of the planet. Such as details of the physical state of the planet in correlation to Earth, but then list the dangers of Venus itself, plans that are backed by science to give human life a CHANCE, but not ideal living conditions on the planet.

To begin, The author starts off supporting their idea of Venus being worthy of exploring by writing about how Venus is somewhat similar to Earth, in the physical aspects, they state the Venus is often referred to "Earth's Twin, Venus is the closest planet to Earth in terms of density and size." They describe how long ago Venus was, "Covered largely with oceans and could have supported various forms of life, just like earth," but they do not mention or go into detail as to what happened to the lakes, as a reader I'm curious as to what happened to the planet, and why it is the way it is today. The author also incorporates a description of the landscape on Venus, they write, "The planet has a surface of rocky sediment and includes familiar features such as Valleys, Mountains, and Craters," the description of the landscape sounds interesting because it is being described sort of like the Grand Canyon, because of the mountains, valleys, and other physical aspects.

Furthermore, the author begins to dive into to the several dangers that go with exploring Venus, they describe the atmosphere as, "Almost 97 percent carbon dioxide." In my opinion a world with an atmosphere of 97 percent carbon dioxide does not sound like the most fun thing. Also being described by the author are the clouds that coat the planet and are filled with, "Highly corrosive sulfuric acid," to me as a reader this sounds more like a death wish rather than a "worthy pursuit."

More dangers that the author lists, is the temperature and the atmospheric pressure. "Temperatures average over 800 degrees Farenheit, and the atmospheric pressure is 90 times higher than what we experience on our own planet. these conditions are far more extreme than anything humans encounter on Earth; such an enviroment would crush even a submarineaccustomed to diving to the deepest parts of our oceans, and liquefy many metals." Those few sentences do not support the claim and idea made by the author that it would be a worthy pursuit. along with blazing temperatures and crushing pressure come with, "erupting bolcanoes, powerful earthquakes, and frequent lightening strikes to probes seeking to land on its surface."

Next, the author continues their ideas with a plan made by NASA, where scientists would "explore" by living in a blimp-like structure that hovers about 30 miles above the planets surface. Even 30 miles above the "temperatures would still be toasty at around 170 degrees Farenheit, but the air pressure would be close the that of sea leavel on Earth. Solar power would be plentiful, and radiation would not exceed Earth levels. Not easy conditions but, survivable for humans." Being in the blimp hovering above the planet would be pointless due to the atmosphere being so dense that most forms of light cannot penetrate it. also stated by the author is, "More importantly, reasearchers cannot take samples of rock, gas, or anything else, from a distance." However, the author states that NASA is working on taking different approaches to studying the planet by using, "Technology called mechanical computers....these devices played an important role in the 1940s during World War II."

Lastly, the author does not support his/her ideas of ,"Venus being worth of pursuit despite the dangers it presents," the author does list several benefits and interesting facts of exploring the planet, but unfortunatly in my opinion the dangers greatly outweigh the risks in physically being on the planet. Now if they conveyed exploring the planet from a far, and with robots and not actual people then I would be all for it.