Have you ever wondered what does the Space smell like? It has the strangest and most unexpected smell, and now there is a way for us all to experience it – thanks to a perfume launched recently.
Although, we might argue that space is empty and it doesn’t even have air, then how can it have a smell?
There is an answer to that, and it’s a quite baffling and bizarre one.
What does space smell like?
Space actually smells like a mixture of burnt steak, searing metal, welding fumes, gunshot smoke all mixed with a faint sweet odour of raspberries and rum.
Now the same fragrance is available in a bottle called as Eau de Space, developed by chemist Steve Pearce who is also the founder of Omega Ingredients. His company focuses on creating the best flavours and ingredients for food and beverage industries.
NASA had contacted him in 2008, and asked him to recreate the smell of space. The purpose was to train the astronauts before sending them into space so that they are familiar with the smell, and are not taken aback by surprise or shock.
It took him 4 years to develop the fragrance and now it is finally released for public.
This is what Astronauts say
An Astronaut named Peggy Whitson commented in 2002 about what space smelled like:
“It’s kind of like a smell from a gun, right after you fire the shot. I think it kind of has almost a bitter kind of smell in addition to being smoky and burned.”
Project manager of this Kickstarter said:
“Astronauts describe the smell as a mix of gunpowder, seared steak, raspberries and rum.”
Now they are working on recreating the smell of the Moon and launching it into a bottle.
Why does space even smell?
Research has found that there are trace amounts of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons floating around in space. When astronauts step out into space, some atoms of these hydrocarbons get stuck to their spacesuits and when they get back in these hydrocarbons react with the oxygen of the space station.
That’s what creates the burning smell that might smell like burning steak or bacon, or smoke from a gun or hot metal, and so on. And since they are hydrocarbons, some fruity smells are warranted as well.
All Featured Images Courtesy: ScienceAlert