Â鶹Éç

Available for over a year

Does space have a smell? If so, what does it smell like? We can’t smell space directly, because our noses don’t work in a vacuum. But astronauts aboard the International Space Station have reported that they notice a metallic aroma – like the smell of welding fumes – on the surface of their spacesuits once the airlock has re-pressurised. According to astronauts, walnuts, brake pads and burnt steak all smell like space.The Rosetta spacecraft also detected compounds responsible for the smell of rotten eggs, bitter almonds and cat urine, boiling off from the surface of comet. Dhara Patel from the National Space Centre in Leicester tests Ben Jackson's aromatic skills with some of the smells of space.