Space and Physics
PUBLISHED
IFLScience visited the Space: Could Life Exist Beyond Earth exhibition at the Natural History Museum, London, recently and we were curious to come across opportunities to take in the scents of asteroid Bennu, Mars, and even Saturn’s moon Titan.
We understand that space smells, in an abstract way (we’ve even covered it before), but being able to get an actual whiff sparked many questions. Who created these smells, based on what, and how?
Enter Marina Barcenilla, astrobiologist and fragrance designer – and now major exhibition contributor – with her own artisan perfumery AromAtom, where she uses chemistry to create the smells of cosmic environments from the surfaces of planets to distant nebulae.
So, we asked Barcenilla: How does one become a perfumer for the stars?
Why did you develop AromAtom?
I think that was the inevitable consequence of being a perfumer studying space science. I'm fascinated by the idea of going to other planets and exploring them. And in my head, the first thing I think about is the smell.
I remember studying astrochemistry and also planetary science, trying to understand the chemical makeup of various parts of space, but also the surface of Mars, the clouds of Jupiter. I remember thinking, I wonder what that smells like, then thinking I could actually go to my perfume lab and just try and make the smell for this place that I have in my head. So I did. I realized it’s a really fun thing to do and a great vehicle to talk about space and chemistry.
How do you develop the smells?
I just have to find the right exoplanet, and then when I find it, I will create it. I'll know it when I see it.
Marina Bercenilla
It very much depends on what I'm trying to create. So, for example, Jupiter, a gas giant mostly made of hydrogen and helium, which don’t smell; if I stuck to the proportions that we find there, we really wouldn't be able to smell anything.
What I do is look for the molecules that do smell. Once I have those, I decide whether I want to just create the smell of that molecule or create a cocktail of molecules and say this is what it might smell like as you go through Jupiter and sink into its atmosphere.
Some of these molecules are toxic and if you breathe them, you're not going to last very long. Others are really, really stinky. In the case of ethyl formate, which was detected in Sagittarius B2 relatively near the center of the Milky Way galaxy, that was actually a molecule in my cupboard. With that one, I can just dilute it to a safe level so that people can smell it, and I can say you are smelling the exact same molecule that we find many thousands of light-years away.
Other times, I recreate the smell or I use something that smells similar. In the case of hydrogen cyanide, which we find in space and on some planets, it has the smell of faint bitter almonds. So, while I couldn't give you hydrogen cyanide to smell because it would kill you, I could give you some bitter almond oil or some benzaldehyde that has a similar odor.
What are some of the worlds you have created the smell of?
Pretty much all the planets in the Solar System. I've also done some of the icy moons, Io and Europa. Recently, I created Titan for the Natural History Museum. That's one of the ones in the exhibition at the moment. I've also done the smell of stony and iron meteorites. Also for the museum, I created the smell of the asteroid Bennu. I get shivers when I think about it because that's so much fun. I always wanted to do that. When they asked me, it was like yes, this is exactly what I wanted to do.
Is there anything in space that you dream of working on?
Speaking to an astrobiologist also from Spain, we were discussing the possibility of creating some exoplanet smells. This is something I really want to do, but there's so many exoplanets. And obviously, the information that we have is so sketchy.
I do love the idea of imagining an exoplanet, maybe some sort of giant Earth, a little bit like Earth but not quite. I'm looking for the right exoplanet that matches the idea that I want to create in my head. I just have to find the right exoplanet, and then when I find it, I will create it. I'll know it when I see it.
This We Have Questions first appeared in Issue 38 (Sept 25) of our digital magazine CURIOUS. To access exclusive CURIOUS content first and receive the quarterly digital magazine, become an All Access Member.
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