On Star Wars Day, we ask what Does Space Smell Like?

“It’s an open canvas. Talk about an artist’s palette!” Retail fragrance expert Danny Ventura from Beaute Prestige International (BPI) was speaking with us recently about the topic of newness and how outer space presents an infinite number of creative options for fragrance’s future. Especially for those wondering where the newness in perfume will originate.

In light of Star Wars Day, we got to thinking about our conversation. “What I’m interested in is fragrances from outer space,” he said. “What does space smell like? What does Mars smell like? What does Venus smell like? Nobody’s done that. I want to go spacial.”

So we dug a little on the topic. To pre-empt the upcoming release of Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens, we looked it up: What DOES space smell really smell like? Does anyone really know?

According to Mental Floss, astronauts report an acrid smell after coming off spacewalks—think spent gunpowder, charred meat, welding fumes or a faint metallic smell. Popular Science confirms that the burnt smell is probably caused by dying stars. “Our solar system is particularly pungent because it is rich in carbon and low in oxygen—just like a car, if you starve it of oxygen you start to get a foul smell.” Once you leave our galaxy, the olfactory experience gets even weirder—with reports of smells as diverse as the sulfur rotten-egg smell to rum and raspberries.

We’re not the only ones interested in the smell of space. In 2008, NASA asked Steven Pearce of Omega Ingredients to re-create the smell for astronaut training exercises. While we’ve yet to see a space scent on fragrance shelves, with notes like rotting eggs and welding fumes, maybe the smell of space is best left to our imaginations.