Prof. Vladimir Vasiliev, a Russian scientist who made a huge personal contribution to the development of radio-laser systems, died on August 10, 2021 from coronavirus at the age of 90.

In 1962, on his initiative, work began to assess the possibilities of using lasers in space technology.

Vasiliev is the ancestor and ideologist of domestic optical-laser topics in such areas as precision geodetic, radio and optical range finders, onboard laser range finders for space systems, laser gyroscopes, spacecraft docking systems, optical communication and navigation systems.

Under his leadership, the necessary design and technological base was formed for the creation of on-board and ground laser information-measuring systems for various purposes,

Vasiliev´s ideas for calculating high-performance optical retroreflective antennas have been successfully used in the creation of the global GLONASS system and in many other domestic and international satellite laser ranging systems.

Vasiliev is the ideologist of the creation of passive precision optical minisatellites operating on the principle of the Luneberg lens. These laser passive minisatellites open up the possibility of studying geodeformations with a sub-millimeter error. In 2002, an experimental model of the retroreflector ball was manufactured, installed on the Meteor-3M spacecraft and successfully passed flight tests. In 2009, the world´s first full-scale autonomous glass laser mini-satellite BLITS was launched and successfully operated together with the global network of laser stations ILRS.

As a result of many years of fruitful scientific and pedagogical activity, V. Vasiliev created a brilliant scientific school, which enjoys the well-deserved authority of specialists in our country and abroad.

V. Vasiliev has been awarded many state and departmental awards.

He is the author of over 250 scientific works and 6 monographs, one of which is ”Electro-optical and radio measurements”, adopted as a textbook for higher educational institutions.

The passing of Vladimir Vasiliev is a great loss for us.

Natalia Parkhomenko