Aleksandr Leonidovich Zaitsev

Who is Aleksandr Leonidovich Zaitsev?

Aleksandr Leonidovich Zaitsev is a Russian and Soviet radio engineer and astronomer from Fryazino. 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 using the Yevpatoria Deep Space Center. Zaitsev is also serving as the SETI League's Regional Coordinator for Russia.

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; and interstellar radio messaging, his current field of research.

Zaitsev observed the asteroid 4179 Toutatis in December 1992 using the 70-m Yevpatorian 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.