Space 'smells like fried steak'

Outer space smells like fried steak, hot metal and welding a motorbike, according to Nasa scientists.

Nasa has commissioned Steven Pearce, a chemist and managing director of fragrance manufacturing company Omega Ingredients, to recreate the smell of space in a laboratory.

His research will be used to help astronauts prepare for the conditions they will encounter in space. Mr Pearce began working for Nasa in August and hopes to have recreated the smell of space by the end of the year.

He said: "I did some work for an art exhibition in July, which was based entirely on smell and one of the things I created was the smell of the inside of the Mir space station. "Nasa heard about it and contacted me to see if I could help them recreate the smell of space to help their astronauts.

"We have a few clues as to what space smells like. First of all, there were interviews with astronauts that we were given, when they had been outside and then returned to the space station and were de-suiting and taking off their helmets, they all reported quite particular odours.

"For them, what comes across is a smell of fried steak, hot metal and even welding a motorbike, one of them said. We have already produced the smell of fried steak, but hot metal is proving more difficult. We think it's a high energy vibration in the molecule and that's what we're trying to add to it now."