Smells like… space
February 11th, 2008 by jimflFew people have experienced traveling into space. Even fewer have experienced the smell of space. Now this sounds strange, that a vacuum could have a smell and that a human being could live to smell that smell. It seems about as improbable as listening to sounds in space, yet space has a definite smell.
February 11th, 2008 at 06:25
Sounds like horsehockey to me. By definition, space cannot have a smell; therefore, it must be some kind of tiny debris halo around the shuttle that is sticking to the suits and equipment. I suppose it could also be the extremely thin atmosphere at low earth orbit.
February 11th, 2008 at 10:28
“…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….”
Probably the result of interaction between the “…atmosphere at low earth orbit.” (atomic oxygen) and the materials. I`ve seen where a couple of people describe the smell as something like almond cookies coming out of the oven.
Of course “space” isn`t actually empty either.
February 11th, 2008 at 15:36
They may have forgotten to change the filter on the vacuum.
February 13th, 2008 at 08:20
SecureCare is correct that “space” isn’t empty (that is, not a true vacuum). There are some particles there. Apparently they stick to the equipment the astronauts use and can be detected by some noses.
February 14th, 2008 at 17:00
I believe there is a bit of taking things very literally here, such that optimal communication did not occur. Plus, a bit of good-natured posturing.
Operationally, if you have some door that opens into a chamber, and you put a helmet into the chamber, close the door, wait, then open the door again, and determine there is a new odor coming from the helmet, you could informally state, correctly, that the new smell is the smell of the chamber.
Unless a person is known to be speaking formally, say at podium at an event, or by way of introduction or announcement, it is reasonable to grant a little informal leeway.
This makes things awkward for those of us “in the know,” since we desire to communicate on the formal level about an interesting phenomena that is being described, when the communication itself was probably directed at those not in the know. Who, for example, think that you are “escaping Earth’s gravity” when you go into space, and can pretty much float anywhere you want for free. You can’t use formal language on these people.
Heck, it’s hard enough using formal language to communicate when in the same field with someone.