The University of Cambridge comes to the aid of cheese makers who have lost a piece of cheese in space

Oh well, not exactly in space but on a meteorological balloon that took off to a height where the air is thin enough. The balloon finally crashed in the town of High Wycombe, about 50 km from London but without the cheese

West of England Dairies cheddar cheese slot. The kind that is launched into the atmosphere
West of England Dairies cheddar cheese slot. The kind that is launched into the atmosphere

The Cambridge Space Flight Student Association has come to the aid of west-country cheese makers who lost touch with a piece of cheese they sent into space.

The cheese makers wanted to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the moon landing in a unique way. They decided to launch a piece of cheddar cheese on top of a meteorological balloon that took off to a height of 30 kilometers, although it is not yet space, but for the purpose of their experiment, testing the survival of the cheese in space conditions, it should have been enough. However, communication with the cheese was cut off since the transmitter and GPS attached to it stopped functioning.

When word of the trouble spread, the Cambridge University Space Flight Student Association offered its help. The team used software they had previously developed for balloon flights, in order to help the cheese makers.

After a brief investigation and analysis of the data reported by the cheese makers, the team tracked down the place of invention of the cheddar cheese.

Ed Moore, from the Space Flight Association says: "When we ran the software, we got the forecast for its location - about 3.2 km south of Berkhamsted in Hertfordshire."

Since the cheese's radios are no longer functional, the task was transferred to local scouts who were required to locate its exact location, and indeed in the end parts of the balloon and the box in which the cheese was stored were found in the town of High Wycombes, about 50 km northwest of London. However, the cheese was not inside. Apparently it disintegrated and to a certain extent did end up in space.

Ed Moore adds: "The brave looking for an excuse to open the spaceport to take off after the cheese might have to think twice, the freezing temperature of the upper atmosphere has caused the cheese to crumble and split."

For a news item in a local UK newspaper

Comments

  1. Lahanan that these will be all the wastes in our universities.. I guess the manufacturers paid for the balloon flight, which they won anyway in public relations. The rest of the expenses were computer time and some students who performed the calculation.

  2. The most amazing thing about this whole story is that they invest money and time in this - apparently there is an excess of money and a lot of free time...

  3. It was a punishment for the cheddar cheese for putting it in the non-kosher cheeseburger!

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