The Smell of Space

October 17th, 2008

According to this article:

NASA has commissioned a specialist to recreate the smell of outer space – which has been described as being similar to fried steak and hot metal.

Too bad there’s not another presidential debate, or we could hear about the money John McCain will save us by stopping such foolishness.   (Sorry for the political aside, but he crapped on the planetarium request again in the last debate.)

But more seriously, this is pretty cool.   I think that NASA should not only recreate the smell, they should market it and apply profits to the space program.   Getting people to participate, through watching, listening, and even smelling, makes them feel like they’re invested in the effort.

Although I have to say that NASA should think about how to improve the smell.   It’s coming from their suits, equipment, electronics, and materials.   A good space hotel on the drawing boards ought to consider smells as part of the design.

There’s a book I have on my shelf that I refer to for things like this.   It’s written by an astronaut and answers a lot of questions that you won’t find answers to in physics books.   Check out Do Your Ears Pop in Space and 500 Other Questions About Space Travel by Mike Mullane.

One of the good pieces of advice floating around there about fiction is to include sensory information.   Many of us are already overtly visual, or aural, but smell and touch are often ignored even though those experiences are a little more personal, and hence stronger.   There’s a rule of thumb, if you will, for writing that says to include a smell every three or four pages.   Personally, I don’t worry about it that much, but do think about it on revisions.   When you do your worldbuilding, think about how things smell.   And the question of how aliens smell to each other may have major implications for how we regard them, if we ever encounter them.   I have no doubt they will smell like something.

So, while it may be true that in space no one can hear you scream, be aware that when they find the body it may stink.   The movie 2010 did a good job remembering this, and I remember that scene very clearly even now.

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