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

Crisis Averted

During an important rocket test, some students decided to strap some cheese onto one of the craft’s landing legs — and got a crucial lesson in physics.

As Interesting Engineering reports, the student-built Gruyère Space Program in Lausanne, Switzerland beat out the European Space Agency when achieving the region’s first-ever “rocket hop” test earlier in October. During the test, the group’s CALIBRI rocket prototype climbed vertically before dropping back down to terra firma.

During the test, the team decided to strap a slice of gruyère — yes, just like their name — onto the rocket’s leg. But what was intended as a joke about one of their country’s premier cheeses became no laughing matter when the slice nearly caused a rocket failure.

“Yes, it was indeed gruyère, and it almost caused a disaster!” GSP president and Swiss Federal Institute of Technology student Jérémy Marciacq told IE. “The cheese created an aero effect that led to the rocket over-spinning.”

As video of the historic incident shows, CALIBRI does indeed start to spin upon its descent, which took place after the rocket reached its peak altitude of 32 yards. Luckily, the rocket landed safely with its dairy stowaway intact.

Though they didn’t get into details about why the spin-out occurred, it does seem that the additional weight of the cheese on one of the rocket’s three legs undermined the craft’s stability.

Say Cheese

Fascinatingly, the student researchers told IE that the Swiss cheese in question wasn’t even fully melted by the rocket’s ultra-hot thrusters.

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

Cheese aside, what started as a joke between college kids became a teachable moment for the GSP.

“In the end, it allowed us to discover some limits to our design — notably for roll control,” the group’s president told the website.

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

More on rockets: There’s a Big Problem With Using Nuclear Rockets to Get to Mars