These centrifuge experiments are interesting and maybe even useful. A quarrel I have with them is they don't adequately model the coriolis force. The radius of the centrifuge is typically so small that a large spin rate is necessary to get the required G load. The high spin rate means there's a significant Coriolis side force. This Coriolis side force plays havoc with the inner ear balancing process (the test subject is always motion sick).

Months ago I was approached by some of the people associated with the Mars Gravity Biosatellite project. They wanted some trajectory simulations and opinions concernng the EDL system. Their recovery capsule is based upon the old Discovery capsule. That specific geometry was designed for returning film spools from low-orbit military satellites. The same design was later reused for the mainly unsuccessful Biosat project. I told them that the peak G loading for their recovery capsule was too large because their vehicle's half angle was too small. I suspect(?) this was one of the reasons why a recovered test animal (a pigtail monkey) died in the Biosat project. I then told them they needed to use a blunter vehicle. Their response was that they were happy with their existing design and only needed support for that specific design. I stopped talking to them after that. I suspect they don't have enough money to complete the project, so this technical disagreement was academic.

Gary