Aleksandr Leonidovich Zaitsev

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Aleksandr Leonidovich Zaitsev (Russian: Александр Леонидович Зайцев; b. May 19, 1945) is a Russian and Soviet radio engineer and astronomer from Fryazino. ^[1] ^[2] ^[3] He works on radar astronomy devices, near-Earth asteroid radar research, and SETI.

Zaitsev is the chief scientist at the Russian Academy of Science's Institute of Radio Engineering and Electronics. He heads the group transmitting Team Encounter's interstellar messages ^[4] using the Evpatoria Deep Space Center (EDSC). ^[5] Zaitsev is also serving as the SetiLeague’s Regional Coordinator for Russia ^[6].

Zaitsev's career has focused on three main topics: the theory, the design and implementation of radar devices used in the study of Venus, Mars, and Mercury; near-Earth asteroid radar research ^[7]; and interstellar radio messaging ^[8], his current field of research.

Zaitsev observed the asteroid 4179 Toutatis ^[9] ^[10] in December 1992 using the 70-m Evpatorian Planetary Radar in Crimea, as a sounding signal transmitter, and the 100-m radio telescope in Effelsberg, Germany, as a receiver of the asteroid's radar echo. Quote from Minor Planet Circular No 25445, 1995:

...Under his leadership, observation of 4179 Toutatis were successfylly carried out in December 1992...

Quote from: Steven Ostro Hazards due to Asteroids & Comets:

...Toutatis also was the target of a Russian-German bistatic experiment (the first non-U.S. asteroid radar observations)...

In June 1995, Zaitsev was responsible for initiating the world's first intercontinental radar astronomy experiment; the radar groups participating in this experiment were lead by Steven Ostro at JPL, Zaitsev in Evpatoria, and Yasuhiro Koyama in Kashima, Japan. Ostro's group transmitted and received using the Goldstone site of the Deep Space Network, while Zaitsev received using the Evpatoria site and Koyama's group received at Kashima. The target asteroid, 6489 Golevka, was later named for the participating observatories. Zaitsev has also conducted work on using radar to determine the composition of asteroids and planetary bodies.

Zaitsev supervised the transmission of the 1999 and 2003 Cosmic Calls ^[11] from Evpatoria Planetary Radar^[12] (EPR). ^[13] ^[14] ^[15] Under his leadership, a youth group in Moscow composed and broadcast a 'Teen Age Message to ETI'. Zaitsev proposed three-section structure of interstellar radio messages, coined the acronym METI (Messaging to Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) ^[16] ^[17] and the phrase 'SETI paradox' ^[18].

In 2006, Zaitsev was one of the contributor's to the ARTE's German-French TV documentation "Die Außerirdischen" (the "Aliens") by Christian Schidlowski ^[19]; English and Russian translations planned.

Zaitsev received his M.Sc. degree in radio engineering from the Moscow Mining University in 1967 and his Ph.D. and his postdoctoral lecture qualification in radar astronomy from the Institute of Radio Engineering and Electronics, Russian Academy of Science in Moscow. He is a member of the Space Guard Foundation, the SetiLeague, and The European Radio Astronomy Club (E.R.A.C.) ^[20].

[edit] Awards

In 1985, Zaitsev received the USSR State Prize in Science.
In 1989, he received the Koroliov Gold Medal ^[21] of the Soviet Space Federation.
In 1995, the International Astronomical Union named the asteroid number 6075 as 'Zajtsev' ^[22]
In 1997, he received the Tsiolkovsky Gold Medal of the Russian Space Federation.
In 2003, Zaitsev received Ukrainian jubilee medal '2500th Anniversary of Evpatoria'.