Sponges space experiments

Historically, there are two space experiments which employed a vane type PMD. The Fluid Acquisition Resupply Experiment-II (FARE-II) tested a vane type LAD using a simulant fluid onboard of the Shuttle mission STS-57 as its primary PMD (Dominick and Tegart, 1994 Dominick et al., 2011). The secondary PMD resembled that of a sponge. The purpose of the experiment was to establish vane performance limits in terms of maximum achievable expulsion efficiencies under adverse acceleration levels. A snapshot of the FARE-II experiment is shown in Eigure 2.10 (Dominick et al., 2011). This was a very successful mission which generated useful low-g data. 

The high ocular selectivity in our experimental design may be due to the sponge-like nature of the sclera. While bolus injections of drugs into the subconjunctival space may overwhelm the absorptive capacity of the sclera, leading to systemic absorption, the gradual delivery employed in our experiments may permit more complete scleral absorption as the absorptive capacity of the sclera is more closely matched to the rate of drug delivery. 

---