NASA recipe for the Eau de Space smashes Kickstarter goal
A plan to bottle up the unique aroma of the final frontier has attracted huge interest online as backers rush to get a whiff.
A secret NASA recipe for the smell of space reportedly obtained through freedom of information requests is being bottled up and sent out to thousands of people who helped its manufacturer smash a crowd-funding goal.
Eau de Space reportedly smells like “seared steak, raspberries and rum”.
It’s the result of an old NASA initiative to prepare astronauts for space by familiarising them with the experience on Earth so there are fewer surprises for them.
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Chemist Steve Pearce told CNN he was contracted by NASA in 2008 to recreate the scent of space, following his work on an exhibition that recreated the smell of Russia’s Mir space station.
He told The Atlantic in 2012 that the Mir scent was complicated by the Russian cosmonauts bringing vodka on board, and that it wasn’t a particularly pleasing aroma.
“Just imagine sweaty feet and stale body odour, mix that odour with nail polish remover and gasoline … then you get close,” he told the magazine.
In the past, astronauts have variously described the smell of space as having the scent of hot metal, or a gun that’s just been fired.
The raspberries and rum scent is thought to come from a large cloud of ethyl formate that was discovered at the centre of the Milky Way in 2009.
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Ethyl formate is the chemical responsible for the smell of rum and the taste of raspberries.
Eau de Space is being sold in 118ml bottles to backers of the Kickstarter campaign.
While it claims to be based on a NASA recipe, Eau de Space stress it’s not affiliated with NASA.
The campaign had until August 17 to meet its funding goal of $2854.
With 46 days still to go, the campaign has already attracted more than $200,000 from more than 3600 backers.
Backers have the option of receiving the scent themselves or sending it to a school of their choosing to educate children about space.
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