Smelly Planet

[HerrProfessorDoktor]

Wouldn't a place like, say Titan, with its nitrogen/methane/other hydrocarbon/hydrogen cyanide, etc. atmosphere and theoretical surface of hydrocarbon sludge/ammonia, etc. smell absolutely terrible?

And with positive external atmospheric pressure on your little habitat I'm sure leaks would be ever-present. Not to mention, it would be nearly impossible to completely clean any equipment brought in from outside. So the smell would always be there, like you were trapped in a submarine diving through a sewer.

Why have I never read or watched any sci-fi that mentioned how stinky a planet was? The inherent aroma of a world, good or bad, is rarely mentioned, even in very hard, detailed SF.

(And not to muddy the topic, but wouldn't the chemicals on Titan be rather hazardous to your health? Even on Mars, where sub-micron sized dust containing nasties like hydrogen peroxide and cyanide can seep into your blood and lodge in your tissues. The Mars dust problem has been mentioned in passing by authors like Robinson and Benford, but they move on and ignore it, because it would be rather inconvenient to the plot to have all the characters die from poisoning. Maybe this is worth another thread. Authors get so caught up in the optimism of human exploration that they neglect to mention any reasons why living on another planet may not be such a good idea after all.)

[Kaptain K]

The lighter hydrocarbons (methane, ethane, propane and butane) are odorless. That is why methyl mercapton (natural gas) and ethyl mercaptan (LP gas) are added as odorants so you can tell if you have a gas leak.

[Ilya]

Methane is the main component of human (and other mammals') intestinal gas, so a lot of people assume it smells bad. In reality, methane is odorless -- all the smells come from sulfur compounds.

Nitrogen has no smell whatsoever, and the smell of hydrogen cyanide is deceptively pleasant. I do not think Titan has it in dangerous -- or even smellable, -- quantities.

[Kizarvexis]

The Chanur series by C.J. Cherryh did a good job of describing the smells of the other species that the Hani (the main characters were cat based humaniods and is told from their point of view) encounter across Compact space. The story is almost ship and station based with a few short forays to the Hani homeworld. The Hani homeworld is earth like, so no alien planet smells to describe though.

Kizarvexis

[HerrProfessorDoktor]

I figured the atmosphere of Titan probably wouldn't smell too bad because all the other gases besides nitrogen are only present in trace amounts. It does seem like the stuff on the ground might smell if it was brought inside and allowed to warm up inside the habitat.

Sulfur is a good example of something that might be present on a planet's surface that would make the stay unpleasant.

I like how Stephen Baxter mentions the smell of oxidizing moon dust in a lot of his stories. It's a nice little detail that adds texture.

[01101001]

In reality, methane is odorless -- all the smells come from sulfur compounds.
Hence Jupiter's moon Io (http://www.nineplanets.org/io.html) is correctly pronounced 'Eew'.

[mike alexander]

You don't need sulfur compounds to smell bad; nitrogenous ones can do nicely, from aliphatic amines to alkyl indoles.

[Gullible Jones]

And ammonia...

[HerrProfessorDoktor]

I figure it would be ammonia that would make Titan stink, if at all, as well as whatever organics are glopped together on the surface. Though, no reason to get stuck on that example, as my preconceptions on that one have been successfully shot down.

I probably wouldn't want to spend a lot of time on Io for a variety of reasons, smell being the least of them! Though I bet it would be pretty rewarding for a sightseeing jaunt.

Still, it seems like a good story detail that I've never seen used. Are there really no examples in fiction of a malodorous planet?

[Maksutov]

I figure it would be ammonia that would make Titan stink, if at all, as well as whatever organics are glopped together on the surface. Though, no reason to get stuck on that example, as my preconceptions on that one have been successfully shot down.[edit]
Titan then would be a good destination to test out folks who are thinking about having children.

[Makgraf]

Why have I never read or watched any sci-fi that mentioned how stinky a planet was? The inherent aroma of a world, good or bad, is rarely mentioned, even in very hard, detailed SF.
Foundation's Edge has a character mention how a planet smells different (He'd never left Terminus). He companion tells him all planets smell different, but he'll get used to it.

[skwirlinator]

Earth Stinks- Humans farted on it. We continue to fart on it and someday an alien will grab his funky nose thing and say "EEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWW You guys stink!" then they will blow up this nasty stinky place in favor of a new galactic highway. But just remember....DON'T PANIC!

[eburacum45]

If and when we get round to terraforming other planets we will probably find that the planetary surface has many toxic or smelly compounds, which might take thousands of years to oxidise and weather away.

This seems particularly likely to be true of Mars, with sulphur-rich soil and poisonous chromium compounds amongst others. I am convinced that by the time we are able to put colonists on Mars, and certainly by the time we reach other solar systems, we will have the technology needed to genetically tweak humans to tolerate, and even enjoy, these conditions.

[skwirlinator]

LOL Like a clothes pin on your nose? LoL

[eburacum45]

Yes; an inheritable clothespeg, that would work.

[skwirlinator]

I guess then you would hear things like LOL

'Your noseflap is leaking!'
or
'I can't go out tonight honey, I have a bad case of crustyflap.'
or
'He's mad when his noseflaps are flaring'
or
'When you really had a hard day...Theres FLAP-PACKERS!'

well you know I couldn't resist!

[Ilya]

Are there really no examples in fiction of a malodorous planet?

Mote Prime in "Mote in the God's Eye" has been industrialized for six million years, but never at the level much higher than 21st century Earth -- rather, thousands of cycles of rising civilization, war and collapse back to savagery. Mote Prime's atmosphere is an industrial smog -- mostly nitrogen and oxygen, but 2% CO2, carbon monoxide, SO2, nitrous oxides, ketons, alcohols, volatile hydrocarbons, etc.:

He smelled animals and machines, ozone, gasoline, hot oil, halitosis, old sweat socks burning, glue, and things he never smelled before. It was unbelievably rich -- and his suit was removing it, thank God.

[DonM435]

Now just a minute! Of course oxygen is "odorless" -- our bodies are saturated with it. We couldn't possibly smell it. And, of course, distilled water is quite "tasteless" for the same reason.

An organism that respired methane or drank hydrogen sulfide to live wouldn't notice its smell or taste. It might well think that oxygen was stinky and water was bitter.

We should always keep a flexible frame of reference!

[Ilya]

Now just a minute! Of course oxygen is "odorless" -- our bodies are saturated with it. We couldn't possibly smell it. And, of course, distilled water is quite "tasteless" for the same reason.

Who are you replying to? I do not see anyone here making big deal of oxygen being odorless, or even mentioning it at all.