Perfumes - Space Scents

Researchers hunting for new and profitable perfume fragrances will soon send a pair of flowers into Earth orbit.

"That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet."

Shakespeare knew a few things about romance ... and roses. But here's something he never considered: roses in space. Would they smell as sweet in Earth orbit?

It's not as silly as it sounds - at least perfume industry giant International Flavours& Fragrances (IFF) didn't think so. New perfume ragrances are much sought after in the competitive perfume industry. Some years ago IFF researchers began to wonder, Could space-travelling flowers yield something new and exotic? The answer might prove profitable, they figured.

And so began perhaps the most romantic space experiment ever done.

In 1998, IFF teamed with the Wisconsin Centre for Space Automation and Robotics (WCSAR), a NASA Commercial Space Centre (CSC) at the University of Wisconsin. WCSAR's job is to help companies research new products in space. NASA's Space Product Development program at the Marshall Space Flight Centre supports 15 such CSC's around the country.

WCSAR researchers had developed a plant growth chamber called ASTROCULTURE^TM for the middeck of the space shuttle. It provides plants with the appropriate temperature, humidity, light, and nutrients during spaceflight, explains Dr. Weijia Zhou, WCSAR director. ASTROCULTURE^TM was perfect for IFF's purpose, and so on Oct. 28, 1998, a tiny rose selected by IFF was able to leave Earth for a 10-day flight onboard the shuttle Discovery (STS-95).

IFF researchers quickly learned that what we call a rose does indeed smell sweet in space ... but it does not smell the same.

Here's why: