What Does Space Smell Like?

Sun Jul 22, 2012 4:50 pm » by **domdabears**

"It is hard to describe this smell; it is definitely not the olfactory equivalent to describing the palette sensations of some new food as 'tastes like chicken.' The best description I can come up with is metallic; a rather pleasant sweet metallic sensation. It reminded me of my college summers where I labored for many hours with an arc welding torch repairing heavy equipment for a small logging outfit. It reminded me of pleasant sweet smelling welding fumes. That is the smell of space."

The whole article

Sun Jul 22, 2012 5:57 pm » by **Tonyw**

You will never know Dom?, but i have often wondered that?. I don't think it's got any smell as such.

Sun Jul 22, 2012 6:10 pm » by **Thruster**

I've always imagined it being like an electrical smell, like an old ghost train ride or the dodgems...that dry odour.

Sun Jul 22, 2012 6:15 pm » by **The57ironman**

Thruster wrote:I've always imagined it being like an electrical smell, like an old ghost train ride or the dodgems...that dry odour.

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...HO train or slot car motors.....?...

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Sun Jul 22, 2012 6:22 pm » by **Thruster**

The57ironman wrote:
Thruster wrote:I've always imagined it being like an electrical smell, like an old ghost train ride or the dodgems...that dry odour.

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...HO train or slot car motors.....?...

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Yeah, that's it, Ironman, slot car motors. Funny..the ideas you get about things, is'nt it?

:think:

Sun Jul 22, 2012 8:38 pm » by **Evildweeb**

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Sun Jul 22, 2012 9:00 pm » by **2020**

Depends on which space your talking about, at the moment my space smells of Alien body odour and roast beef. :arrow:

Sun Jul 22, 2012 9:11 pm » by **Kinninigan**

What does space smell like?
Lauren Davis

Astronauts may not expose their nostrils to the vacuum of space, but folks who come back from space walks report that they've brought a very distinctive odor back with them. And the space stations have their own special (and not necessarily pleasant) scents, including perfume of the Mir Space Station, which is currently being bottled.

Steve Pearce, a chemist at Omega Ingredients and Maverick Innovations, was approached by a curator at the Reg Vardy Gallery who wanted to create an exhibit of unusual odors. Pearce has ended up working out the smells of Cleopatra, the last meal of condemned murderer Jesse Tefaro, and the Mir Space Station. Pearce explained to Discovery Space that he's looked to astronaut's descriptions of what they term the "smell of space:"

When astronauts come in from a spacewalk and remove their helmets, they've reported smells of "seared steak," "hot metal" and "arc welding on their motorbike."

These are all consistent descriptions, not flukes. That led us to conclude that the sensation is caused by some high-energy vibrations in particles brought back inside which mix with the air.

Mir had its own special odor, however. Apparently, when the designers conceived of the station's air and water recycling systems, they didn't account for the fact that cosmonauts would likely bring vodka with them. Thanks to the changes in their breath and perspiration, acetone, acetaldehyde, and other none-too-pleasant smelling materials found their way into the air. As Pearce has been developing the smell of being cooped up on Mir for too long, his inspirations have been smelly feet, body odor, nail polish remover, and gasoline. NASA is hoping to use these scents as part of their training program, so that astronauts headed on space missions have a stronger sense of what their noses are in for. It's probably just as well that one's sense of smell dulls in space.

http://io9.com/5927963/what-does-space-smell-like

Sun Jul 22, 2012 11:26 pm » by **Shemagh**

I think it's like the Glasgow subway,(before modernization,) the Clockwork Orange, they call it. It had a smell that everyone noticed but nobody could describe, it was unique, when you walked in there you breathed it in and tried to think what it reminded you of, but there was nothing it reminded you of, it was just it, the smell of that place. Maybe that's what the smell of space is like, the smell of that place, indescribable, reminds you of nothing.

Mon Jul 23, 2012 1:44 pm » by **Thruster**

Shemagh wrote:I think it's like the Glasgow subway,(before modernization,) the Clockwork Orange, they call it. It had a smell that everyone noticed but nobody could describe, it was unique, when you walked in there you breathed it in and tried to think what it reminded you of, but there was nothing it reminded you of, it was just it, the smell of that place. Maybe that's what the smell of space is like, the smell of that place, indescribable, reminds you of nothing.

Interesting. I'm from Glasgow..I know exactly what your talking about.

Good one!

:cheers: