At least one TaikoBot is believed to be a passenger on each of the previous three unmanned test missions. In May the Hong Kong-based newspaper Wen Wei Po quoted a Deputy Chief Designer of Shenzhou ("Magic Vessel" or "Divine Vessel") as saying that there were three dummies on SZ-3. The report had not been verified independently.

Unlike the former Soviet Union and the United States that used live animals early in their programs to test their respective manned spacecraft, China has chosen to use dummies instead.

Chinese space officials said that there was no need to involve animals in the Shenzhou testing because the Soviets and the Americans had already established that a living organism could survive a space trip.

Su Shuangning, Director of the Chinese manned space project and Chief Designer of the yuhangyuan ("astronaut") system, further explained to Wen Wei Po on Aug. 24: "The environmental control and life protection system creates the artificial environment inside the spacecraft.

"The atmospheric pressure and oxygen pressure inside the spacecraft, and the instrument control relies on human control. Animal testing could not check whether the system would meet the manned spaceflight requirements."

Su continued, "Take breathing as an example: human consumption of oxygen is much higher than that of a monkey and a chimpanzee. Using a manikin installation and fixing its workload, the data obtained this way could prove whether the spacecraft is safe."

The experiment involving the TaikoBot yuhangyuans, which space officials term "human metabolism analogue devices", is an important test of Shenzhou. In an interview with China Youth Daily on Aug. 20, an unidentified official explained that the installation of an environmental control and life protection system would ensure yuhangyuans live healthily and work efficiently in space, and guarantee their safety.

"The environmental control and life protection system controls pressure, temperature and humidity, removes carbon dioxide and other harmful gases, supplies food and drinking water, and collects waste products," the official said.

The official said that the TaikoBot experiment had taken into account of the physical and chemical simulation of oxygen consumption, and data on heat generation from metabolism.

Aerospace medicine specialists calculate that on average a yuhangyuan would consume about 600 litres of oxygen and generate approximately 12 megajoules of heat per day during his stay in space to maintain metabolism.

The advantage of the experiment is that its cost is not high but is of great scientific value.

Robots For Space Environment Testing
Since the former Soviet Union had also conducted manikin testing early in its manned space effort, rumour had been circulating that the Chinese dummies were imitation of the Soviet manikins. Chinese space officials have dismissed such comment as "nonsense".

Space officials said that researchers of the Chinese Aerospace Medicine Project developed the dummies domestically. "The eyes of the TaikoBot are black," said one official.

Development of the dummies started in the early 90s, around the time when the manned space project began.

The development team faced many challenges and technical difficulties.

Weight, volume, power consumption and other factors constrained the design of the TaikoBot.

When the team found a material that had a high oxygen consumption property, it did not have the required strength. "After the first test, it cracked," the space official said.

The team eventually overcame the technical difficulties and constructed the first TaikoBot. But it got too heavy and too large to fit in the spacecraft.

The unnamed official said that perhaps the greatest challenge was the issue of safety and reliability.

For example, the temperature of the device reached 800 degrees Celsius after taking in oxygen. But the design demanded that the temperature of its surface and the exhaust opening to be at below 60 degrees Celsius.

Thermal insulation and cooling technology became the thorny problem to solve.

The TaikoBot has basic functions in simulating human metabolism, physiological signs and physique.

The metabolism simulation device consumes the in-cabin oxygen and emulates the rate and volume of oxygen consumption of a human. At the same time the device simulates heat generation of a human and radiates heat inside the spacecraft.

The environmental control and life protection system then actively controls the oxygen pressure and temperature inside the cabin to within the required medical limits.

The device that simulates physiological signs generates heartbeat, respiration, body temperature and blood pressure. The device produces the primary source of data for the spacecraft medical monitoring facility, which medical monitoring personnel on the ground uses to assess the health of the yuhangyuans.

The proper collection, storage, transmission, processing and display of the data through both the space and Earth segments of the medical monitoring system, as well as the reliability of the system, is also part of the experiment.

The physique of the TaikoBot -- its 14 body parts including the head, the torso, and the limbs -- as well as its height, weight and barycentre correspond to that of a human. The overall physique also meets the requirement of donning and doffing the spacesuit.

When the TaikoBot occupies a seat in the Descent Module, its attitude and barycentre match the conditions of a manned mission in order to fulfill the spacecraft testing prerequisites.

Data obtained from the ascent and descent postures produces the necessary parameters in the spacecraft structural design.

Chinese space officials recognize that the assessment of the environmental control, life protection and medical monitoring systems with the dummies is paramount.

As one official emphasized, "If the systems do not pass the assessment, our yuhangyuans cannot go into space."

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