WHAT DOES OUTER SPACE SMELLS LIKE

THE SMELLS OF THE UNIVERSE ARE NOT UNIVERSAL:

Different objects in space like comets, planets, moons, gas , clouds. Each have their own distinctive aroma. The expanse

describes the moon as having a gunpower strink. Does the moon really smells like gunpower??

WHEN RECALLING THE SMELL OF THE MOON:

Apollo 17 Jack Schmidt said everyone's impression of the smell was that of spent gunpowder and this is strange

because the makeup of lunar dust is completly different than gunpowder moon regolith is made up of silicon dioxide

glass created by billions of year of media impacts. It also contains iron, calcium and magnesium. But modern

gunpowder combination of nitro cellulose and nitroglycerin. So why the similatity??

Well nobody really know but it could be a sign that moon dust is chemically active. So how does the smell even

happen. Well there are a couple of theories one is called the desert rain effect.

RAIN EFFECT:

You ever notice that awesome smell that happens after summer rain that smells called Petra Icore from the

Greek words. Petra means rock or stone and the word Icore which is the fluid that flows through the veins of the god

on Earth.

Plant oils accumulate on rocks during dry periods along with another compound yachtsman which is a metabolic

byproduct of bacteria found in soil and during rain the oils and Joe's men are released into the air causing that

distinctive smell of petrol corn and if there's lightning sometimes you could sniff a little ozone.

Obivously there are no plants on the moon but there's still stuff right. The molecules trapped in the dry moon dust

may have been activated by contact with the moist air in the lunar module just like Patrick wore in the desert rain

effect.

SOLAR WINDS:

Another theory is solar winds hot solar winds on hydrogen helium and other ions Buffett the moon's surface and may

become trapped in the dust when the ions are dislodged such as by an astronaut's footsteps then the come in contact \

with warm air inside the lunar module they evaporate.

That's possible these ions were brought into the cabin producing the odor either way the smell disn't last long by the

time the moon dust made it back to Earth it was completly odorless.

So we have to take NASA's word for it but space itself may even have a smell. Astronauts returning from spacewalks

have reported smelling brunt metal or brunt meat and no one really knows for sure what this is but it could be

molecules of metal leeching off onto spacesuits then oxidizng when it comes into contact with actual humidifier air.

Now I think that's super interesting. So let's work our way around solar system and see which planet smells like

toasted almonds and which planet smells like the porta potty on the last day of Renaissance fair.

CLOSEST PLANET TO THE SUN:

MURCURY:

murcury is the smallest nad closest planet to the sun named after the greek god Hermes and translated into latin is

more curious. The messanger of the god and murcury contains a lot of sodium which doesn't have much of and odor

but there's also alot of silicon dioxide present likemoon. So we assume the smell would be gunpowder just salty

gunpowder.

VENUS:

Venus is the second planet from the sun named after the roman goddess of love and beauty. When they name the

name planet they clearly couldn't smell it. Venus has a thick atmosphere mostly carbon dioxide. There's also a heavy

clouds of sulpheric acid that combination makes venus smell like a burnt match and rotten eggs.

MARS:

Mars is the fourth planet from the sun and second smallest planet in the solar system being larger than only Mercury

named from the Roman god of war. Mars is often reffered to as the red planet because of the iron oxide on the

surface and despite what Matt Damon would tell you Mars doesn't have much of an atmosphere since Mars lost its

magnetic sphere billions of year ago. Solar winds are constantly stripping away atoms from outer layer. but what

atmosphere there is contains methane formaldehyde carbon monooxide and sulpher dioxide. The Martian sand

smells like rusty metal because that's when iron oxide is combining the owner of the surface with the orders of the

air and Mars is probably going to smell like the exhaust old car with a bad catalytic converter. It's basically the same

stuff and yeah you can't breathe that.

JUPITER:

Juipter is the fifth planet from the sun and the largest in the solar system. It's a gas named after the king of the

Roman gods. Jupiter's atmosphere is five thousand kilometer thick and actually has multiple layers each with

slightly different smell. The outer layers have a lot of ammonia which smell like horse urine. As you move closer to the

surface the atmosphere becomes more sulfuric smelling like skunk and horse urine. The inner layers have a high

concentration of hydrogen cyanide which smells like toasted almonds and skunk and horse urine and rotten egg.

SATURN:

Saturn is the six planet from the sun and the second largest in the solar system. After Jupiter it's also a gas giant

named after the Roman god of wealth and agriculture. Saturn's atmosphere is 96 persent hydrogen and 4 persent

helium so not much of a smell, but there are trace amounts of methane phosphate in acetylene and ammonia and

fostering can smell like rotten fish like so Saturn probably smells like dead fish and skunk and rotten eggs.

URANUS:

Uranus is the seventh planet from the sun named for the greek god, greek god of the sky. That's probably the

smallest planet in the solar system the upper atmosphere is mostly hydrogen so not much of a smell but as you get

closer to the surface it gets pretty ripe. The cloud tops of Uranus are made up of hydrogen sulphide that gas

responsible for the foul smeel of rotten eggs and human flatulence a little lower the atmosphere you'll find methane

and ammonia.

NEPTUNE:

Named after the Roman god of the sea Neptune is the eighth and far this planet from the sun at 17 times the mass

of Earth. It's slightly more massive than its twin Uranus. Most of the compounds are frozen the atmosphere so really

just hydrogen and heliym are present Neptune doesn't have much smell at all.

PLUTO:

Planet Pluto is a near vaccum with nitrogen methane and carbon monoxide so deadly but odorless one of Saturn's

moons and sylbus is covered in ice but underneath it has an ocean of liquid salt water. It was recently discovered

that plumes of methanol are ejected from the surface so it could smell like a martini.