Aleksandr Leonidovich Zaitsev (; 19 May 1945 – 29 November 2021) was a Russian and

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

radio engineer and astronomer from

Fryazino Fryazino ( rus, Фрязино, p=ˈfrʲæzʲɪnə) is a naukograd, scientific types of inhabited localities in Russia, town in Moscow Oblast, Russia, located on the Lyuboseyevka River, a tributary of the Vorya (Klyazma), Vorya, northeast of th ...

. He worked on

radar astronomy Radar astronomy is a technique of observing nearby astronomical objects by reflecting radio waves or microwaves off target objects and analyzing their reflections. Radar astronomy differs from ''radio astronomy'' in that the latter is a passive ob ...

devices,

near-Earth asteroid A near-Earth object (NEO) is any small Solar System body orbiting the Sun whose closest approach to the Sun (perihelion) is less than 1.3 times the Earth–Sun distance (astronomical unit, AU). This definition applies to the object's orbit aro ...

radar Radar is a system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), direction ( azimuth and elevation angles), and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It is a radiodetermination method used to detect and track ...

research, and

SETI Seti or SETI may refer to: Astrobiology * SETI, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. ** SETI Institute, an astronomical research organization *** SETIcon, a former convention organized by the SETI Institute ** Berkeley SETI Research Cent ...

Education

Zaitsev received his M.Sc. degree in

radio Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...

engineering from the

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

Mining University in 1967 and his Ph.D. (1981) and his postdoctoral lecture qualification (1997) in

from the Institute of Radio Engineering and Electronics,

Russian Academy of Science The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; ''Rossíyskaya akadémiya naúk'') consists of the national academy of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across the Russian Federation; and additional scientific and social units such ...

. He was a member of the Space Guard Foundation, the SETI League, and The European Radio Astronomy Club (E.R.A.C.).

Career

Zaitsev was the chief scientist at the

's Institute of

Radio Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...

Engineering and

Electronics Electronics is a scientific and engineering discipline that studies and applies the principles of physics to design, create, and operate devices that manipulate electrons and other Electric charge, electrically charged particles. It is a subfield ...

. He headed the group transmitting Team Encounter's

interstellar messages This is a list of notable interstellar radio messages (IRMs) transmitted from Earth. Many of these were sent in the aim of searching for extra-terrestrial intelligence (SETI), and are often called ' active SETI' or 'METI' (Messages to Extra-Terr ...

using the

Yevpatoria Yevpatoria (; ; ; ) is a city in western Crimea, north of Kalamita Bay. Yevpatoria serves as the administrative center of Yevpatoria Municipality, one of the districts (''raions'') into which Crimea is divided. It had a population of His ...

(Evpatoria) Deep Space Center (EDSC). Zaitsev was also serving as the SETI League's Regional Coordinator for Russia.SETI League: http://www.setileague.org Zaitsev's career has focused on three main topics: the theory, the design and implementation of

devices used in the study of

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is often called Earth's "twin" or "sister" planet for having almost the same size and mass, and the closest orbit to Earth's. While both are rocky planets, Venus has an atmosphere much thicker ...

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...

, and Mercury;

research; and interstellar radio messaging, his later field of research. He retired in 2013. Zaitsev observed the

asteroid An asteroid is a minor planet—an object larger than a meteoroid that is neither a planet nor an identified comet—that orbits within the Solar System#Inner Solar System, inner Solar System or is co-orbital with Jupiter (Trojan asteroids). As ...

4179 Toutatis 4179 Toutatis ( provisional designation ) is an elongated, stony asteroid and slow rotator, classified as a near-Earth object and potentially hazardous asteroid of the Apollo asteroid group, approximately 2.5 kilometers in diameter. Discovere ...

in December 1992 using the 70-m Yevpatorian Planetary Radar in

Crimea Crimea ( ) is a peninsula in Eastern Europe, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, almost entirely surrounded by the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. The Isthmus of Perekop connects the peninsula to Kherson Oblast in mainland Ukrain ...

(

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

), as a sounding

signal A signal is both the process and the result of transmission of data over some media accomplished by embedding some variation. Signals are important in multiple subject fields including signal processing, information theory and biology. In ...

transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter (often abbreviated as XMTR or TX in technical documents) is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna (radio), antenna with the purpose of sig ...

, and the 100-m

radio telescope A radio telescope is a specialized antenna (radio), antenna and radio receiver used to detect radio waves from astronomical radio sources in the sky. Radio telescopes are the main observing instrument used in radio astronomy, which studies the r ...

in Effelsberg, Germany, as a receiver of the

's radar echo. In June 1995, Zaitsev was responsible for initiating the world's first intercontinental

experiment; the radar groups participating in this experiment were led by

Steven Ostro Steven Jeffrey Ostro (March 9, 1946 – December 15, 2008) was an American scientist specializing in radar astronomy. He worked at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Ostro led radar observations of numerous asteroids, as well as the moons of Jupite ...

JPL The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is a federally funded research and development center (FFRDC) in La Cañada Flintridge, California, Crescenta Valley, United States. Founded in 1936 by California Institute of Technology (Caltech) researche ...

, Zaitsev in Yevpatoria, and Yasuhiro Koyama in Kashima,

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. Ostro's group transmitted and received using the Goldstone site of the

Deep Space Network The NASA Deep Space Network (DSN) is a worldwide Telecommunications network, network of spacecraft communication ground segment facilities, located in the United States (California), Spain (Madrid), and Australia (Canberra), that supports NASA' ...

, while Zaitsev received using the Yevpatoria site and Koyama's group received at Kashima. The target asteroid,

6489 Golevka 6489 Golevka is an Apollo, Mars-crosser, and Alinda asteroid discovered in 1991 by Eleanor F. Helin. Its name has a complicated origin. In 1995, Golevka was studied simultaneously by three radar observatories across the world: Goldstone in Ca ...

, was later named for the participating observatories (GOL-EV-KA or GOLdstone-EVpatoria-KAshima). Zaitsev has also conducted work on using

to determine the composition of

asteroids An asteroid is a minor planet—an object larger than a meteoroid that is neither a planet nor an identified comet—that orbits within the Solar System#Inner Solar System, inner Solar System or is co-orbital with Jupiter (Trojan asteroids). As ...

and planetary bodies. Zaitsev supervised the

transmission Transmission or transmit may refer to: Science and technology * Power transmission ** Electric power transmission ** Transmission (mechanical device), technology that allows controlled application of power *** Automatic transmission *** Manual tra ...

of the 1999 and 2003 Cosmic Calls from Yevpatoria Planetary

Radar Radar is a system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), direction ( azimuth and elevation angles), and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It is a radiodetermination method used to detect and track ...

(EPR). Under his leadership, a youth group in

composed and broadcast a ' Teen Age Message to ETI'. Zaitsev proposed three-section structure of interstellar radio messages, coined the acronym

METI Meti is a town in south-western Ethiopia, located in Godere woreda of the Gambela Region The Gambela Region, also spelled Gambella, and officially the Gambela Peoples' Region (), is a regional state in western Ethiopia. Previously known as ...

(Messaging to Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) and the phrase 'SETI paradox', which refers to an apparent "paradox" where two distant civilizations capable of interstellar communication will always remain silent unless one of them contacts the other first, resulting in a deadlock of silence. In 2005, in article
The Drake Equation: Adding a METI Factor
he suggested that a high technology is not enough for establishing contact with Aliens because appropriate behavior directed to practical realization of sending signals is necessary too. In 2006–2011, Zaitsev was one of the contributors to the *

ARTE Arte (, , ; ' ('), sometimes stylised in lowercase or uppercase in its logo) is a European Union, European public service Television channel, channel dedicated to culture. It is made up of three separate companies: the Strasbourg-based Europea ...

's German-French TV documentation "Die Außerirdischen" ("Calling All Aliens") by Christian Schidlowski; * Russian documentary "Overcome the Great Silence" by Vladislav Sidorov, * Dutch documentary "Calling E.T." by Prosper de Roos, * Dutch documentary "Alien Bits" by Prosper de Roos. Zaitsev died on 29 November 2021.

Awards

* 1985,

USSR State Prize The USSR State Prize () was one of the Soviet Union’s highest civilian honours, awarded from its establishment in September 1966 until the dissolution of the USSR in 1991. It recognised outstanding contributions in the fields of science, mathem ...

in Science. * 1989, the ''Koroliov Medal of the Soviet Space Federation''. * In 1995, 6075 Zajtsev, an

in the outer regions of the

main-belt The asteroid belt is a torus-shaped region in the Solar System, centered on the Sun and roughly spanning the space between the orbits of the planets Jupiter and Mars. It contains a great many solid, irregularly shaped bodies called asteroids ...

, was named in his honour by the discovering astronomer,

Nikolai Chernykh Nikolai Stepanovich Chernykh ( rus, Никола́й Степа́нович Черны́х, , nʲɪkɐˈlaj sʲtʲɪˈpanəvʲɪtɕ tɕɪrˈnɨx, links=yes; 6 October 1931 – 25 May 2004Казакова, Р.К. Памяти Николая Сте ...

, following a suggestion by the Institute of Theoretical Astronomy. * 1997, the ''Tsiolkovsky Medal of the Russian Space Federation''. * 2003, Ukrainian jubilee medal ''2500th Anniversary of Evpatoria''.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Zaitsev, Aleksandr 1945 births 2021 deaths Russian astronomers Soviet astronomers Search for extraterrestrial intelligence Interstellar messages People associated with radar People from Shchyolkovsky District Russian scientists