Ipswich, United Kingdom
When you think of space, you probably think of distant stars, mysterious exoplanets, and quasars that feast on matter like angry monsters.
But space itself, apparently, also has a smell to it.
A smell which you can add to the “cosmological memories” file in your brain with this “Eau de Space” perfume: a fragrance originally developed by NASA that captures the scent of… nothingness?
What smells like gun powder, steak, raspberries and rum?
Outer space, supposedly.
And now, thanks to a new fragrance launched on Kickstarter, you don’t have to travel all the way to orbit to get a whiff.
“The smell was strong and unique. Nothing like anything I had ever smelled on Earth before,” former NASA astronaut Tony Antonelli said in a promotional video for the scent.
“Rarely a day goes by when I don’t think about the smell of space.”
Chemist Steve Pearce of Omega Ingredients is behind the new outer space scent.
He has long sought to emulate orbital odors not found on Earth.
For one art installation, dubbed “Impossible Smells,” he recreated the smell of the Mir Space Station.
The fragrance he concocted was a pungent mixture of sweat, nail polish remover, and gasoline, he said at the time.
In 2008, Pearce was in talks with NASA to recreate the smell of space in an effort to train astronauts on the scents they might encounter in orbit.
Eau de Space was launched as a Kickstarter project—one that has already far surpassed its original fundraising goal.
Matt Richmond, the product manager for Eau de Space, said in a CNN report that the fragrance was created by Steve Pearce.
Pearce is a chemist, and founder of the Omega Ingredients company, who was originally contracted in 2008 by NASA to create the scent of space. Pearce had also, earlier, created a fragrance aimed at capturing the scent inside of the Mir Space Station.
As far as the actual scent of space is concerned, Richmond says that astronauts have described it as a combination of “seared steak, raspberries, and rum.”
CNN also noted that astronauts have described space as smelling of ozone, hot metal, and fried steak. Gunpowder seems to be a popular way of describing the way space smells as well.
And while the vacuum of space in reality, of course, doesn’t have a smell to it, there is a distinctive scent that astronauts have described upon returning from spacewalks.
According to an Australian Academy of Science article, astronauts have described a “tang” on their spacesuits and airlocks when returning from a spacewalk.
Although the article goes on to note that the smell may be caused by single oxygen atoms combining with O₂ upon cabin de-pressurization—O₃ is ozone and ozone has a particular smell.
Renowned worldwide for delivering innovative, cutting-edge biochemistry through the use of all-natural materials, Steve Pearce is constantly striving to source the best ingredients for our extensive flavour development projects and working hard to ensure the highest levels of certification.
Designer: Steve Pearce, Omega Ingredients Ltd.
Client: NASA