“Yes, it really was gruyère and it almost caused a disaster!”

Crisis averted

During an important rocket test, some students decided to put some cheese on one of the craft’s landing legs – and got a crucial physics lesson.

That Interesting engineering rEPORTSthe student-built Gruyère space program in Lausanne, Switzerland, surpassed the European Space Agency when it carried out the region’s first “rocket jump” test in early October. During the test, the group’s prototype CALIBRI rocket ascended vertically before descending back to earth.

During the test, the team decided to attach a slice of gruyère – yes, just like their name – to the leg of the rocket. But what was intended to be a joke about one of their country’s main cheeses became nothing short of laughable when the slice almost caused a rocket failure.

“Yes, it really was gruyère and it almost caused a disaster!” GSP President and student at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology said Jérémy Marciacq IE. “The cheese created an aerodynamic effect that caused the rocket to overspin.”

That video of the historic incident shows, CALIBRI does indeed begin spinning on descent, which occurred after the rocket reached its maximum altitude of 32 meters. Fortunately, the rocket landed safely, with the dairy contraband intact.

While they didn’t go into detail about why the rollover occurred, it appears that the extra weight of the cheese on one of the rocket’s three legs undermined the craft’s stability.

Say Cheese

Fascinating, said the student researchers IE that the Swiss cheese in question wasn’t even completely melted by the rocket’s ultra-hot propellants.

“In the end it all worked out and I actually ate it after the flight,” Marciacq said. “It was a little warm, but still quite tasty!”

Cheese aside, what started as a joke between colleagues became a teaching moment for GSP.

“Ultimately, it allowed us to discover some limits of our design, especially for roll control,” the group’s president said on the website.

Between beating the ESA and getting a tasty snack, it’s clear these Swiss students are on the right track.

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