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What does space smell like ?


Saru

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Here on Earth we are subjected to a wide range of smells on a daily basis, but what about in space ?

Astronauts who have gone on space walks consistently speak of space's extraordinarily peculiar odor. They can't smell it while they're actually bobbing in it, because the interiors of their space suits just smell plastic-y. But upon stepping back into the space station and removing their helmets, they get a strong, distinctive whiff of the final frontier.

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It has no smell, it's just an illusion due to the zero gravity, the nose and brain can be fooled by very low gravity.

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Never thaught of it!

but i dont think it smells of much, just epic.

Thanks,

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What does space smell like?

Pretty bad if you 'let one go' while you are in your space suit... :whistle:

Please read the smaller print.

I hereby apologise for the poor quality of this humour.

Edited by Junior Chubb
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Probably smells like a latrine considering all the crap that we've left floating about.

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It has no smell, it's just an illusion due to the zero gravity, the nose and brain can be fooled by very low gravity.

and exactly how do you know this?

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That's what happens when you serve Mexican food in space.

Now the whole universe is gonna smell like that.

Ay carumba!

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Guest Xetan

Do you get smells in a vacuum?

I would assume so, since smell isn't delivered through waves in the way that sound is. Instead, smells happen typically because of direct physical contact between the nose hairs and tiny bits of whatever matter is being sniffed. So if there's dust in space, it would cling to the suit and be smelled.

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I bet it smells "spacey".

Like Kevin?

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I guess the spacesuits are bombarded by the sun's radiation since they are outside of the atmosphere's protection.

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Like Kevin?

Probably.

It might smell of pasta aswell.

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With all the weird vapors being expelled from a craft(fuel from auto correction stabilizers, etc) it doesn't surprise me that some of it would cling to a spacewalkers suit.

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If the smell is from various debris or from the suit, or the craft, then it is not the Smell of Space. It is the smell of whatever object being in space. Just as you don't get the Smell of Fire, you get the smell of whatever is being burned.

Scent is based on particles, and since actual Space has few or no particles in it, there would be no smell to it. If there was it would be the scent of Vaccum, or the scent of Nothing.

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Probably.

It might smell of pasta aswell.

:tu:

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If the smell is from various debris or from the suit, or the craft, then it is not the Smell of Space. It is the smell of whatever object being in space. Just as you don't get the Smell of Fire, you get the smell of whatever is being burned.

Scent is based on particles, and since actual Space has few or no particles in it, there would be no smell to it. If there was it would be the scent of Vaccum, or the scent of Nothing.

They smell it WHEN THEY COME BACK IN and take off the helmet. Thus something is on the outside of their suits.

Jeeze, read the article.

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i dont know why people are so ready to dismiss this, after all unless you've been there how the hell would you know?

and being as astronauts are not really thickies i'll take their word over some layman on the internet thanks

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They smell it WHEN THEY COME BACK IN and take off the helmet. Thus something is on the outside of their suits.

Jeeze, read the article.

It is idiotic. They are not smelling space, but the smell of what space did to their suit.

Science is clear that a vacuum has no smell to it.

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i dont know why people are so ready to dismiss this, after all unless you've been there how the hell would you know?

and being as astronauts are not really thickies i'll take their word over some layman on the internet thanks

I don't need to walk on the surface of the Sun, or on the Moon naked, to know that either would kill me immediately. Science is clear that we can't smell energy and since a vacuum has few to no particles in it, what they are smelling must be a reaction between their suit (And what Space did to it) and the air in the air lock.

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It is idiotic. They are not smelling space, but the smell of what space did to their suit.

Science is clear that a vacuum has no smell to it.

Exactly.

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If there's nothing in a vacuum then there can't be a scent. But space is not a proper vacuum. Is this correct?

(plz help a non-scientific minded dolt)

Edited by Eldorado
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If the smell is from various debris or from the suit, or the craft, then it is not the Smell of Space. It is the smell of whatever object being in space. Just as you don't get the Smell of Fire, you get the smell of whatever is being burned.

Scent is based on particles, and since actual Space has few or no particles in it, there would be no smell to it. If there was it would be the scent of Vaccum, or the scent of Nothing.

Would those 'few particles' be easier to detect as there is nothing (well the nothing that is in a vacuum) to dilute them?

If this is the case would it be possible that space didn't smell until we got there? Much like many corners of our own planet...

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