Space smells like steak

Marilyn sez, "Astronauts returning from spacewalks have noticed a distinctive smell of fried steak on their space suits when they take them off. Who knew?!" Turns out, the cosmos is not vegan.

He said: “When astronauts were de-suiting and taking off helmets, they all reported quite particular odours.

“We have already produced the smell of fried steak, but hot metal is more difficult.

“We think it’s a high energy vibration in the molecule and that’s what we’re trying to add to it now.”

Space smells of steak, say Nasa (Thanks, Marilyn!)

• [PaulR]

  Maybe the smell comes from all the microscopic body parts floating around, leftover from all sorts of space battles everywhere…

• [TYR]

  “We think it’s a high energy vibration in the molecule and that’s what we’re trying to add to it now.”

  Someone from NASA said that? That’s like an ad for quantum homeopathy. I see it was in the Sun, so it’s reasonably good odds they made it all up.

• [Wanon]

  How do you know if you’ve been spacewalking too long?

  When you come inside you start smelling like a medium-rare steak.

• [zuzu]

  A1: It’s how space is done.

• [Xydexx]

  The universe is DELICIOUS.

• [JFlex]

  This has all been explained in this documentary:

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaFZTAOb7IE

• [Cool Products]

  @ #8: Haha, seriously right. All the tax money for space exploration and this is the kind of stuff we are figuring out.

• [fanomas]

  xeni posted that back in 2006, anousheh ansari returned from space and said it smelled like burnt almond cookies:

  http://www.boingboing.net/2006/09/30/ansari-back-from-spa.html

  the post has updates that elaborate on the smell of space, etc.

• [mdh]

  Zuzu, do you suppose all that dark matter they’re always looking for is actually steak sauce?

• [dexdoomsday]

  I’ve also read that space also smells like…

  “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…”

  full(small article)

  http://www.timemachinego.com/linkmachinego/2008/02/12/the-smell-of-space/

• [SomeGuy]

  Rick @ #12

  I sure as hell don’t believe those flimsy suits can block 100% of cosmic radiation.

  Mmmmm…..astronaut. It’s the other red meat.

• [Johnny Cat]

  Mmmm, steak. Mmmm+, steak dipped in dark matter.

• [mabwiddershins]

  I find it odd that “Omega Ingredients” rather than NASA is spreading the news that space smells like fried steak.

  Even more intriguing is the NASA Cafeteria Menu for this past week, which includes a $5.00 Country Fried Steak Dinner.

  See http://larc-exchange.larc.nasa.gov/LaRCExchange/Cafemenu.html.

  Coincidence? I think not.

• [13tales]

  So that’s the terrible secret of space… I was wondering.

  Or possibly the terrible secret of steak, if you want to look at it from another perspective.

• [FoetusNail]

  “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.”

  So space likes something between welding fumes and steak.

  http://www.boingboing.net/2008/02/20/astronaut-describes.html

• [zuzu]

  So that’s the terrible secret of space… I was wondering.

  Do you have steak in your house?

• [nearlycanadian]

  All those toasty stars, they’re probably smelling planets cooking.

  Mmmm. Meat planet.

• [Guysmiley]

  And the Moon smells like burnt smokeless gunpowder. Weirdness.

• [Tony Moore]

  i’ve never wanted anything more than to go to space after hearing this.

  My God, it’s full of steak!

  -T

• [FoetusNail]

  o0ps

• [Rick.]

  That wouldn’t be roasted astronaut they’re smelling through the suits, would it?

• [classic01]

  That’s predictable. And the moon is made of cheese!!!

• [TEKNA2007]

  I’ve always assumed space smells like diaper. Glad to know I’m wrong about that — the future is looking much more pleasant!

• [MrScience]

  #17 … No. If you RTFA, you’d see this was a perfume maker. :)

  The space agency has commissioned Steven Pearce of British fragrance firm Omega Ingredients to recreate the smells to help train spacemen.

• [E0157H7]

  I think that if I took off my space suit after being possibly exposed to a plethora of weird radiation and smelled steak, I’d flip right out.