EAU de comète, anyone? Rosetta researchers are to unveil the aroma of 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, as sniffed by the Philae lander.
Colin Snodgrass of the Open University in Milton Keynes, UK, and colleagues commissioned The Aroma Company to develop a “perfume” inspired by readings from Philae showing the presence of hydrogen sulphide, ammonia and hydrogen cyanide – which smell of rotten eggs, cat urine and bitter almonds.
The smell isn’t directly derived from these compounds – some are poisonous – but the scent should reflect the whiff of 67P.
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“If you could smell a comet, this is what you would get,” says Snodgrass, who will hand out samples at the Royal Society summer exhibition in London next month. “But if you are standing there without your space suit, you’re not going to notice the smell, you’re just going to notice the lack of air.”
This article appeared in print under the headline “Comet perfume smells like…”
