michael moisseeff is a retired consultant from the National Polytechnic Institute of Toulouse, in France, who currently works as scent sculptor. This means that it is capable of manufacturing the perfume of objects and places without the need to include substances present in them. For this reason, when they offered to reproduce what does the moon smell like for an exhibition, he had no doubts.
To make the perfume, it has been based on the testimonies of the few people who have set foot on our satellite. They all went outside the apollo ships dressed in diving suits that prevented them from picking up any scent. However, when they went back inside, no matter how hard they tried to brush their suits, there was always some sticky lunar dust clinging to them.
And the most curious thing is that, when they were asked what the Moon smells like, they all gave similar answers. Buzz Aldrinfor example, said it smelled like burnt coal or fireplace. charlie dukeof Apollo 16, explained that it reminded him of the gunpowder scent. AND Gene Cernanof Apollo 17, pointed out that, for him, it was similar to the smell that remains when shoot a carbine. Something curious is that the latter also took the liberty of trying it and said that, for him, it tasted quite good. But, leaving this aside, everyone agreed on something similar for the smell and that is what Moisseeff has based on.
What does the moon smell like?
At first, when verifying that all the astronauts evoked the aroma of gunpowder when they smelled lunar dust, there was quite a stir. Could it be that this powder was explosive?
However, samples that have been analyzed on Earth show that, in reality, its composition It has nothing to do with that of gunpowder and cannot be considered explosive either. But then, why did everyone answer the same thing when asked what the Moon smells like?
There are many doubts about it, although most experts believe that, more than the smell of the Moon, it must be the result of the reaction produced by introducing dust into the oxygenated environment of the lunar module in which the astronauts took refuge. In fact, the samples that have reached Earth do not smell of anything, so it is a probable hypothesis. Even so, for Moisseeff, the perfume must have that background of gunpowder that the first lunar walkers spoke of.
A very interesting job
The perfume will be exposed in SpaceCityan exhibition that will be installed in the Toulouse Museum. But this is not the only interesting work of the aroma sculptor.
For example, he often works for the wine companies, since it manufactures aromas that are used for its workers to test. It reproduces the smell of different grape varieties, as well as soils, minerals, and the vegetable and floral notes that can be detected in the wine.
It has also reproduced the aroma of places as remote as the tropical forests of the andaman islandsin the Indian Ocean.
As he himself explained in Nature, uses a still to extract substances by distillation, a rotary evaporator to remove solvents, very precise measurement scales for chemicals and a file of 3,000-4,000 reference odors. With all that, can sculpt almost any scent. It is clear that he was the ideal person to show us what the Moon smells like, although he has never traveled there. That is part of the magic of perfumes.