Astronauts aboard space shuttle Columbia’s 16-day mission are performing experiments on how plant fragrances change in space. Tests on previous missions showed that the essential oil of a rose morphed into a new scent in micro-gravity:
Although both smell tests and laboratory analysis confirmed the new aroma, Zhou and professional perfumers struggle to describe it. “What we thought was it was something that was a little out of this world,” said Jan Little, spokeswoman for International Flavors and Fragrances Inc . of New York.
IFF, the world’s No. 1 fragrance maker, is the commercial partner on the flower experiments following the success of its earlier space rose scent. Oils extracted from an Overnight Scentsation rose launched in 1998 aboard space shuttle Discovery lead to the creation of a new scent that has been incorporated into a perfume called Zen by Shiseido and a body spray called Impulse by Unilever.