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Outer Space has a Smell

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the anosmia-sucks-in-space-too dept.

repapetilto writes "ISS Science Officer Don Pettit reports in his journal that outer space gives off a smell best described as "a rather pleasant sweet metallic sensation." Kind of odd considering smell is supposed to be due to volatilized chemical compounds."

35 of 274 comments (clear)

  1. Take a big wiff by suso · · Score: 5, Funny

    Too bad the vacuum of space will suck that smell right out of your nose.

    1. Re:Take a big wiff by suso · · Score: 3, Funny

      I guess the right thing to say here is "That's one smell that will make your head explode".

    2. Re:Take a big wiff by RackinFrackin · · Score: 2, Funny

      Yeah. Shouldn't it smell like blood?

    3. Re:Take a big wiff by Ilan+Volow · · Score: 2, Funny

      The smell of outer space is "Silent but Deadly".

      --
      Ergonomica Auctorita Illico!
    4. Re:Take a big wiff by somersault · · Score: 2, Funny

      You just gave me a stellar idea for a highly expensive cure for chronic constipation *plot*

      --
      which is totally what she said
  2. Good news, everyone! by El+Yanqui · · Score: 5, Funny

    Professor Farnsworth already proved it with the Smell-O-Scope.

    --
    Well, thanks to the Internet, I'm now bored with sex.
    1. Re:Good news, everyone! by PinkyDead · · Score: 4, Funny

      And in a damning indictment of the US patent office, prior art will be established in 1000 years.

      --
      Genesis 1:32 And God typed :wq!
  3. Oblig Futurama by dkleinsc · · Score: 3, Funny

    Don Pettit: The guy from whom Prof Farnsworth stole the plans to the smelloscope.

    --
    I am officially gone from /. Long live http://www.soylentnews.com/
  4. smelloscope by GreatRedShark · · Score: 3, Funny

    So does this mean the Professor's smelloscope could one day be a reality? Gee, I'd hate to small Uranus.

    1. Re:smelloscope by andphi · · Score: 3, Funny

      Until, of course, the planet's name is changed to do away with the joke.

    2. Re:smelloscope by Bob-taro · · Score: 4, Funny

      Until, of course, the planet's name is changed to do away with the joke.

      Maybe in the future, Uranus and Pluto will just be referred to by the phrase, "and the rest", like the professor and Mary Anne from Gilligan's Island.

      --
      Prov 9:8 Do not rebuke mockers or they will hate you; rebuke the wise and they will love you.
  5. local sources... by Joe+the+Lesser · · Score: 4, Funny

    Professor Hubert Farnsworth: I'm afraid the Smelloscope can't locate Bender. His fragrance is too mild. It's being overwhelmed by local sources.
    [Everyone looks at Zoidberg]
    Dr. Zoidberg: Hooray! Now I'm the center of attention.

    --
    "I only speak the truth"
    Karma: null(Mostly affected by an unassigned variable)
  6. That's nothing compared to... by unbug · · Score: 2, Funny

    ...the inner space. Now that smells really weird!

  7. don't worry by Joe+the+Lesser · · Score: 3, Funny

    It will soon be renamed Urectum.

    --
    "I only speak the truth"
    Karma: null(Mostly affected by an unassigned variable)
    1. Re:don't worry by sm62704 · · Score: 2, Funny

      Wrecked him? It damned near killed him!

      --
      mcgrew's razor: Never attribute to stupidity that which can be explained by greedy self-interest
  8. I hear by pedropolis · · Score: 2, Funny

    The outer rim of Uranus also has a smell. It's described variously as a musky, pungent, zesty enterprise, with a splash of sulfur, that causes dizziness and nausea.

    And now... ladies and gentlemen... Carrot Top!!!

    1. Re:I hear by Linker3000 · · Score: 2, Funny

      Nah, that's Austrian wine.

      --
      AT&ROFLMAO
  9. Re:Sounds Like Ozone by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    If there's tiny molecules of ozone floating around in orbit of the earth, I'm certain that would be scientifically interesting.

    Indeed. I'm sure scientists would be astounded to discover that there is a "layer" around the Earth comprised of "ozone".

  10. doez it haz a flavor??? by advocate_one · · Score: 2, Funny

    n/t

    --
    Donald 'Duck' Dunn: We had a band powerful enough to turn goat piss into gasoline.
    1. Re:doez it haz a flavor??? by Rob+T+Firefly · · Score: 3, Funny

      om nom nom nom

      --
      Slashdot Burying Stories About Slashdot Media Owned
  11. Well, that makes for a good sci fi book title by Jafafa+Hots · · Score: 2, Funny

    "The Sweet Smell of Space" sounds like something Heinlein would have written.

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    This space available.
  12. Re:Sounds Like Ozone by Kamineko · · Score: 4, Funny

    If there's tiny molecules of ozone floating around in orbit of the earth, I'm certain that would be scientifically interesting.

    Ozone... around the Earth?

    You mean like some kind of... layer?

    (Yes, I know, I know. Couldn't help it. :P)
  13. Re:Sounds Like Ozone by servognome · · Score: 4, Funny

    Indeed. I'm sure scientists would be astounded to discover that there is a "layer" around the Earth comprised of "ozone".
    *Gasp* This greenhouse gas layer must be destroyed to prevent global warming!
    --
    D6 63 0D 70 89 81 BB 8E 7B 7C 5F 5D 54 EA AB 73
  14. Re:Sounds Like Ozone by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Lucky not to have permanent lung damage; that shit's like a suntan for your lungs. Have you gotten a lung capacity test? Yeah, I heard he got one from his boss right before his last promotion. It's ok though, his boss told him that his lung capacity was 'euphorically good.'
  15. obligatory 2001 by Mister+Whirly · · Score: 2, Funny

    "Oh my God, it smells like stars!"

    --
    "But this one goes to 11!"
  16. Re:Huh? by edittard · · Score: 3, Funny

    Experience with evacuating radio and TV tubes says you can get up to 500 cm^3 of gas out of every few square inches of metal.
    Bravo! Not only mixing imperial and metric but areas and volume to boot!

    Sir, I take my hat off to you.
    --
    At the bottom of the /. main page it says 'Yesterday's News'. Well they got that right.
  17. Re:Implied Lisa? by somersault · · Score: 5, Funny

    Perhaps he was implying that the OP's brain was more empty than the vastness of space

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    which is totally what she said
  18. Obligatory Star Trek Reference by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Kirk: "How close will we come to the closest Klingon outpost if we continue on our present course."

    Chekov: "One parsec sir. Close enough to smell them."

    Spock: "That is illogical, ensign. Oders cannot travel through the vacuum of space."

    http://www.badmovies.org/tvshows/startrek/tribbles/tribbles1.wav (135 KB)

  19. Re:Sounds Like Ozone by thegermanpolice · · Score: 1, Funny

    Don't worry, I'm already working on it. ::sprays on deodorant:: Wow a geek using deodorant!
  20. Re:Implied Lisa? by somersault · · Score: 2, Funny

    Perhaps you meant to reply to my cure for constipation below - Method of curing constipation by exposure of bodily cavities to a powerful vacuum. Now that's gonna cause an asplosion.

    --
    which is totally what she said
  21. Re:Implied Lisa? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    That would suck ass.

  22. Re:Implied Lisa? by doombringerltx · · Score: 2, Funny

    Don't get so butt hurt over it. Oh yeah, I went there

  23. Re:Sounds Like Ozone by servognome · · Score: 3, Funny

    Wow a geek using deodorant!
    For science, not hygiene... so it's not that surprising.
    --
    D6 63 0D 70 89 81 BB 8E 7B 7C 5F 5D 54 EA AB 73
  24. Re:Sounds Like Ozone by davidsyes · · Score: 2, Funny

    Proto-Captain Garrovic(k) will impressed... as long as you don't have an "Obsession" that wastes hemoglobin

    --
    Previously: "Linux... Toward the Sunrise..." Now: "Linux... Toward the-- No, now, part of Every Sunrise"
  25. Re:Sounds Like Ozone by Digi-John · · Score: 2, Funny

    Thanks for the advice. I'll pick up a can of compressed air next time I'm out (and help get rid of that pesky atmospheric ozone in the process!).

    --
    Klingon programs don't timeshare, they battle for supremacy.