During a rocket test, students from Switzerland decided to attach a piece of gruyere cheese to one of the landing legs of a prototype rocket. This seemingly harmless joke became an unexpected test of the reliability of the apparatus design.
A team of students from Lausanne working on the Gruyère Space Program (GSP) conducted the region’s first vertical rocket landing test in early October. The CALIBRI prototype rocket climbed vertically to 32 meters and then successfully returned to the ground. However, during the descent, the rocket began to spin uncontrollably.
“Yes, it was indeed Gruyère cheese, and it almost caused a disaster!” shared GSP head Jérémy Marciacq, a student at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. He said the cheese created an aerodynamic effect that caused the rocket to spin, worsening its stability.
As the video of the test shows, the cheese on one of the three legs caused an imbalance, resulting in an unwanted roll during the descent. Fortunately, the rocket landed without damage, and even the cheese remained intact.
Even more interesting was the fact that the gruyere didn’t melt from the red-hot engines. “In the end, it all worked out, and we actually ate it after the flight. It was slightly warm, but still quite tasty!” Marciacq said.
This joke experiment was actually very useful, because it showed the shortcomings of the assembled model, in particular the roll control problems. The students learned an important lesson and were able to improve the design of the rocket.
Thus, ahead of the European Space Agency (ESA) in conducting a vertical landing and having an unusual experience, the Swiss students showed that they were moving in the right direction – and even deliciously completed the experiment.
Earlier we reported on how China built a replica of a Starship rocket with a vertical landing.
Provided by Interesting Engineering