What Does Space Smell Like? Exploring the Aromas of Comets, Moons, and Beyond

SPACE — Outer space is a vacuum without air. Technically, we can’t smell anything in space. However, outer space is not a complete vacuum.

Outer space is full of various kinds of molecules. Some of them have a strong aroma when we smell them on Earth. Understanding what might smell in different parts of space is a really cool way to understand cosmic chemistry.

Reporting from Space, other places in the universe also have unique aromas. One of them is a comet.

When the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Rosetta spacecraft encountered comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in 2014, it detected various molecules in the comet’s coma and the gas halo surrounding the comet’s solid core.

Among these molecules is hydrogen sulfide, which gives rotting eggs their foul odor. There is also ammonia, which is similar to the smell of urine.

The plane also detected hydrogen cyanide, which, although notoriously poisonous, has a more appealing, almond-like odor. Apart from that, there is fragrant carbon disulfide. There is also a sour aroma from acidified formaldehyde.

You might wrinkle your nose at this scent combination. But do these substances produce odors? Most likely the smell is not strong because most of the comet’s coma is water vapor and carbon dioxide.

Gasoline smell on Titan

One place where there is an atmosphere to store scents is Titan, Saturn’s largest moon. However, the atmosphere there makes it difficult to smell anything.

There is no oxygen there, and it is very cold, minus 179.6 degrees Celsius. It would be impossible for anyone to take off their spacesuit helmet and inhale the aroma deeply if they were there. However, if we could, we would find that the Titan smells like gasoline.

Gasoline is made from crude oil that is rich in hydrocarbons, molecules formed from hydrogen and carbon atoms, such as methane and ethane. For your information, Titan’s atmosphere contains a dense mist of hydrocarbons.

On the moon’s surface, liquid hydrocarbons formed oily lakes and rivers. But methane, which is the dominant hydrocarbon on Titan, has no odor. So what creates this lunar smell?

NASA’s Cassini spacecraft identifies unknown chemical compounds in Titan’s hazy atmosphere. In NASA laboratory experiments on Earth, scientists identified the substance as a molecule containing nitrogen, methane and benzene. This compound belongs to a family of molecules called polycyclic nitrogen heterocycles (PANH).

The benzene in PANH is what gives Titan its petroleum smell. Because benzene is also found naturally in gasoline.

2024-01-09 02:50:00
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