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Humans have invented a technology that allows for teleportation of matter across any distance. These devices can, in theory, be scaled up to any size, so long as the necessary construction materials are available.

The drawback is that, while any matter can be transferred, there is no way to reassemble it on the other side. Anything that goes in will come out as a cloud of loose particles. In some cases this can mitigated, like re-condensing water vapor, or melting down metallic dust and forming it back into it's original shape.

Of course, matter that is already in a particulate form goes through completely intact. Because of this, one of the primary uses of this technology is weather control. Need more rain for crops? Just transfer some from an urban area where it is not wanted.

Now, scientists are preparing to construct an array of these devices and placing one side of each on Venus and the other side on Mars. Transferring part of Venus's atmosphere to Mars is the first step in a long term plan to terraform both. Future plans include transferring vast amounts of ice particles from elsewhere in the solar system to establish bodies of water and transferring organic soil "dust mulch" in which to kick start plant growth.

Now for my actual questions:

1) Would the difference in atmospheric pressure cause too violent of a transfer? How might this be mitigated?

2) Would the thick, heavy atmosphere on Venus eventually equalize with the thin atmosphere on Mars?

3) If so, would the resultant pressure and chemical makeup of both atmospheres be even close to survivable for humans? Close enough that additional measures could reasonably be taken to make it survivable? Or deadly enough that this whole operation was pointless?

4) Assuming viability, could this process be completed within a reasonable amount of time?

5) To what extent could these devices be used to continually equalize temperature between the planets after atmospheric equalization has been established?

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    $\begingroup$ That’s actually 5 questions, we like to try to limit things to just one at a time here. Unfortunately a lot of the things you ask depend upon the nature of the device that you propose. It depends how easy it is to make how large a teleportation device. If you can make one tens of miles on a side both atmospheres should reach equilibrium fairly quickly. As a side note this sort of thing would also demolish modern physics and allow perpetual motion. $\endgroup$
    – Slarty
    Dec 24, 2019 at 22:46
  • $\begingroup$ the violence of transfer is up to you, it depends on how fast you do it, which is all on how your hand wave technology works. $\endgroup$
    – John
    Dec 25, 2019 at 1:29
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    $\begingroup$ Reminds me of a short story I wrote a while back. Humanity encounters enormous beings that travel among star systems via wormholes embedded in planetary atmospheres (for pressure "stability"). They first entered our solar system inside the ice & gas giants, then they emerged at the pressurized depths of our oceans. I think you can imagine what devastation could result when gigapascals of Jovian atmosphere suddenly burst forth from under the oceans. The result over millions of years were planets across many star systems homogenized in atmospheric content. $\endgroup$
    – BMF
    Dec 25, 2019 at 21:53

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1) Would the difference in atmospheric pressure cause too violent of a transfer? How might this be mitigated?

This is a tanker having the air sucked off of it. It starts at 1 atm and gradually lowers, until the metal can no longer withstand a pressure difference of less than 1 atm (since the tanker never reaches 0 atm inside):

Moob! The opposite of boom, get it?

Mean altitude atmospheric pressure is about 0.006 atm for Mars and 90 atm for Venus, so... Each mouth of your devices would be facing a shock about 90 more violent than that. If they are not made of handwavium, expect some really cinematographic destruction.

2) Would the thick, heavy atmosphere on Venus eventually equalize with the thin atmosphere on Mars?

As long as the devices don't break, yes. Depending on the flow you have, it might take quite long though. Think in terms of mass being transfered per time.

3) If so, would the resultant pressure and chemical makeup of both atmospheres be even close to survivable for humans? Close enough that additional measures could reasonably be taken to make it survivable? Or deadly enough that this whole operation was pointless?

At mean altitude in Venus you have rains of sulphuric acid. Venus's atmosphere will never be anywhere close to survivable to humans without modifying it considerably.

4) Assuming viability, could this process be completed within a reasonable amount of time?

What is reasonable for you?

5) To what extent could these devices be used to continually equalize temperature between the planets after atmospheric equalization has been established?

This is too broad, because it depends on how you spread those, the flow you can get, seasonal variations of sunlight on both planets... I suggest opening a new question just for this.

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  • $\begingroup$ 0.6 atmospheres on Mars? Maybe a few billion years ago, but most certainly not today... Maybe 0.006 atmospheres? $\endgroup$
    – AlexP
    Dec 24, 2019 at 22:35
  • $\begingroup$ IIRC it’d be possible to survive in the upper reaches of Venus’s atmosphere, as long as you’ve got an oxygen mask. That’s why some people have proposed building aerostats that use human-breathable air as lifting gas. $\endgroup$
    – nick012000
    Dec 25, 2019 at 2:08
  • $\begingroup$ @nick012000 and a wetsuit. Don't forget the sulphuric acid $\endgroup$
    – KeizerHarm
    Dec 25, 2019 at 2:23
  • $\begingroup$ @KeizerHarm there is little to none of that above the cloud layer, exactly where pressure is close to 1 atm. BUT there is a lot of radioactivity on the day side. $\endgroup$
    – The Square-Cube Law
    Dec 25, 2019 at 2:42
  • $\begingroup$ If Mars gets Venus's atmosphere(1 atm) Venus is still going to be having a huge atmosphere. $\endgroup$
    – Roghan Arun
    Jun 2, 2020 at 23:18

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