|
Newbie
User of semicolons.



Registered: 07/18/04
Posts: 24,710
Loc: SoCal
Last seen: 1 day, 13 hours
|
The Smell of Space
#8021547 - 02/14/08 09:18 AM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
|
|
The Smell of Space By: ISS Science Officer Don Pettit
Few 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. Being creatures of an atmosphere, we can only smell space indirectly. Sort of like the way a pit viper smells by waving its tongue in the air and thenpressing it to the roof of its mouth where sensors process the molecules that have been adsorbed onto the waggling appendage. I had the pleasure of operating the airlock for two of my crewmates while they went on several space walks. Each time, when I repressed the airlock, opened the hatch and welcomed two tired workers inside, a peculiar odor tickled my olfactory senses. At first I couldn't quite place it. It must have come from the air ducts that re-pressed the compartment. Then I noticed that this smell was on their suit, helmet, gloves, and tools. It was more pronounced on fabrics than on metal or plastic surfaces. 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.
I thought that was cool as hell. I never really stopped and thought, "Hmmm I wonder what space smells like." I wonder if it smells any different depending on where you are.
|
MOTH
Wild Woman


Registered: 06/06/03
Posts: 23,431
Loc: In the jungle
|
Re: The Smell of Space [Re: Newbie]
#8021566 - 02/14/08 09:22 AM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
|
|
Wow... "metallic smell.."
Hmm...
food for thought.
|
Ferris
PsychedelicJourneyman



Registered: 03/12/06
Posts: 11,529
|
Re: The Smell of Space [Re: Newbie]
#8021567 - 02/14/08 09:22 AM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
|
|
Well, the space station or whatever they were on was probably in low orbit, you would have to go a bit further out to be in more of a true vacuum. I would like to smell it to see what he's talking about.
-------------------- Discuss Politics
|
AlteredAgain
Visual Alchemist



Registered: 04/27/06
Posts: 11,181
Loc: Solar Circuit
|
Re: The Smell of Space [Re: Newbie]
#8021665 - 02/14/08 09:48 AM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
|
|
trippy post. 
--------------------
|
igwna
The Cap'n


Registered: 06/19/07
Posts: 8,016
Loc: New England, USA
Last seen: 9 years, 5 months
|
|
i've tasted that metallic taste.. like uhh, i have a post about my teeth fillings when i get stoned i get that metallic taste.
i donno if i ever SMELLED it though.
interesting.
-------------------- I don't believe in cops, bosses, or politicians. Some call that anarchism. I call it having a fucking heart that beats.
|
OneMoreRobot3021



Registered: 06/06/03
Posts: 61,024
Loc: the sky
|
Re: The Smell of Space [Re: Newbie]
#8021721 - 02/14/08 10:04 AM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
|
|
Thanks for posting that dude.
-------------------- Acid doesn't give you truths; it builds machines that push the envelope of perception. Whatever revelations came to me then have dissolved like skywriting. All I really know is that those few years saddled me with a faith in the redemptive potential of the imagination which, however flat, stale and unprofitable the world seems to me now, I cannot for the life of me shake. -Erik Davis
|
anyone420
mad buddah abuser



Registered: 02/04/08
Posts: 5,956
Last seen: 14 years, 8 months
|
Re: The Smell of Space [Re: igwna]
#8021725 - 02/14/08 10:05 AM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
|
|
Interesting post !
I've gotten high enough to taste a star before.
True story.
-------------------- for all y’all niggaz out there that be puffin shit when the music go on, y’all listen to this alright
|
Robo
R Series 66Y
Registered: 05/08/07
Posts: 14,861
|
Re: The Smell of Space [Re: anyone420]
#8021742 - 02/14/08 10:10 AM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
|
|
How cool would it be to work on the space station 
I wonder what it would take to get a job going into space. Im fairly close to the launching site maybe they'll give me a job
|
AlteredAgain
Visual Alchemist



Registered: 04/27/06
Posts: 11,181
Loc: Solar Circuit
|
|
hmm, i wonder if space "tastes" anything like DMT..
--------------------
|
Tangerines




Registered: 04/17/05
Posts: 17,918
Loc: woodwork
Last seen: 4 years, 23 days
|
Re: The Smell of Space [Re: Newbie]
#8022066 - 02/14/08 11:47 AM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
|
|
I am pretty sure space has no smell...considering it is NOTHING except the absence of matter.
|
AlteredAgain
Visual Alchemist



Registered: 04/27/06
Posts: 11,181
Loc: Solar Circuit
|
Re: The Smell of Space [Re: Tangerines]
#8022092 - 02/14/08 11:52 AM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
|
|
space is a ton of energy.
--------------------
|
WakeboardrB
Pepe Silvia



Registered: 05/18/03
Posts: 13,678
Last seen: 11 years, 6 months
|
Re: The Smell of Space [Re: Robo]
#8022101 - 02/14/08 11:54 AM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
|
|
Quote:
Omni said: How cool would it be to work on the space station 
I think it would be cool at first, but imagine how bored and claustrophobic you would feel after a while. I'm quite suprised no one has ever gone nuts up there and hacked the rest of the crew into little pieces and wore their skin as pajamas.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
-------------------- Same thing happened to me when I played Neil Armstrong in Moonshot. They found me in an alley in Burbank trying to re-enter the earth's atmosphere in an old refrigerator box.
|
Tangerines




Registered: 04/17/05
Posts: 17,918
Loc: woodwork
Last seen: 4 years, 23 days
|
|
How do you figure? Space by definition is the lack of matter. So by having the lack of matter you have energy?
Granted space is supposed to consist of 99% dark matter...but then again we have no clue what exactly dark matter it as we can only detect it.
|
AlteredAgain
Visual Alchemist



Registered: 04/27/06
Posts: 11,181
Loc: Solar Circuit
|
Re: The Smell of Space [Re: Tangerines]
#8022123 - 02/14/08 11:59 AM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
|
|
Quote:
Tangerines said: How do you figure? Space by definition is the lack of matter. So by having the lack of matter you have energy?
Granted space is supposed to consist of 99% dark matter...but then again we have no clue what exactly dark matter it as we can only detect it.
Just because empty space has no matter does not mean there is no energy in it. Michael Talbot writes about this in his book The Holographic Universe. He even goes as far as saying that every cubic centimeter of empty space contains more energy than the total energy of all the matter in the known universe.. which if true, goes to say that space is not empty at all. It is full, a plenum as opposed to a vacuum, and is the ground for the existence of everything, including ourselves.
--------------------
|
Tangerines




Registered: 04/17/05
Posts: 17,918
Loc: woodwork
Last seen: 4 years, 23 days
|
|
Energy smells though? I have smelt light before and it never smells. Pure flame has no smell. Heat has no smell. I am confused.
|
igwna
The Cap'n


Registered: 06/19/07
Posts: 8,016
Loc: New England, USA
Last seen: 9 years, 5 months
|
Re: The Smell of Space [Re: Tangerines]
#8022134 - 02/14/08 12:01 PM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
|
|
i've smelled heat.
-------------------- I don't believe in cops, bosses, or politicians. Some call that anarchism. I call it having a fucking heart that beats.
|
Tangerines




Registered: 04/17/05
Posts: 17,918
Loc: woodwork
Last seen: 4 years, 23 days
|
Re: The Smell of Space [Re: igwna]
#8022138 - 02/14/08 12:02 PM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
|
|
Pure heat smells? Please do tell.
|
Tangerines




Registered: 04/17/05
Posts: 17,918
Loc: woodwork
Last seen: 4 years, 23 days
|
Re: The Smell of Space [Re: Tangerines]
#8022143 - 02/14/08 12:03 PM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
|
|
There is a difference in smell when you are outside in the shade and then the sun comes out and brings its warmth upon you? I never noticed that.
|
igwna
The Cap'n


Registered: 06/19/07
Posts: 8,016
Loc: New England, USA
Last seen: 9 years, 5 months
|
Re: The Smell of Space [Re: Tangerines]
#8022154 - 02/14/08 12:06 PM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
|
|
yeah its got some kinda smell.
i remember having smelled and saying "it even smells hot today."
-------------------- I don't believe in cops, bosses, or politicians. Some call that anarchism. I call it having a fucking heart that beats.
|
Cowgold
Bullshit


Registered: 04/04/05
Posts: 12,486
Loc: .
|
Re: The Smell of Space [Re: Tangerines]
#8022167 - 02/14/08 12:09 PM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
|
|
Quote:
Tangerines said: I am pretty sure space has no smell...considering it is NOTHING except the absence of matter.
Smelling smells our entire life, the absence of scented particles would still have a smell. That or there are scented particles in space.
|
|