To add some further perspective: cheese is essentially preserved milk. There are multiple ways of preserving food, including 1) acidifying, 2) drying, 3) salting, and 4) fermenting. There are additional methods, in particular canning, but let's focus on these four. For acidifying and/or salting, think about pickles; for salting and/or drying, think about ham or jerky; for fermenting, think about wine. For all four of these, think about cheese!
Cheese involves fermenting the milk (lactic acid bacteria), which in the process acidifies the milk. The milk is "set" either via the action of the acidification or, more often, using an enzyme (rennet), and then the curd is cut, stirred, heated, or otherwise manipulated to allow a great deal of the liquid to drain away while leaving behind the fats and milk solids. The cheese is then salted, which also helps draw out some moisture, and of course adds flavor.
A "fresh" cheese, along with various short-aged cheeses, tends to be relatively high in moisture, and as a result these would not be good candidates for long-term storage under any circumstances, much less uncontrolled temperature swings. Some types of cheese, particularly the camemberts and bries and such, have a very definite shelf life due to the action of the yeast/mold. On the other hand, while no cheese is completely dry (you wouldn't want to eat it if it were!), most "aged" cheeses are relatively low in moisture level, and some, such as parmesan, are very low indeed.
Parmesan, if I recall correctly, was specifically developed to travel along with Roman armies. Note that, in addition to very low moisture, parmas also tend to be lower in fat, making the problem of fat leaching out at higher temperatures less of an issue. (Cheddar, by contrast, tends to be a high-fat cheese, so it is far more likely to have fats running out at higher temperatures.) All of this to say, a well-aged, dry, hard cheese is intended for use by travelers.
The idea of a canned cheese is interesting. Generally canning preserves by way of high heat (to destroy dangerous spores such as botulism) + sealing (to prevent any nasties from getting back in). Note that higher-acid foods, such as fruit preserves, can be canned at lower temperatures precisely because they are sufficiently acidic to keep botulism at bay. (Hey - "Botulism at Bay" sounds like a great name for a rock band ... but I digress.) I would be very curious to know how they have canned cheddar without leaching all the fat out in the process of heating it ...
