VITA Director Henry Norman and VITA Project Coordinator Dr. Gary Garriott (WA9FMQ) today announced that VITA has just	awarded AMSAT a $15,000 Design Definition Grant to support development of PACSAT as a reliable low-cost digital satellite system to meet requirements for communications of technical information on renewable energy resources to and from their many field locations. AMSAT's role in this joint activity will be to provide hardware suitable for demonstration programs and to provide technical assistance in developing a low-cost system. Part of this effort will involve adapting solar power, amateur radio and personal computer technology for use in the field, far removed from any technical support.
AMSAT's PACSAT project manager Den Connors (KD2S) indicated that this grant will support initial PACSAT design definition activities which are being coordinated by AMSAT with work being done in some 15 locations around the world.
It is also of interest to note that WAGFMQ is a cousin of	NASA astronaut Dr. Owen Garriott, W5LFL who may be amateur radio's first "space mobile" by operating from the Space Shuttle if a proposal submitted by AMSAT and ARRL is approved by NASA.
Current Beta status is a positive one.... first production boards were picked up today. The wave soldering went without a hitch and first tests indicate none of the problems faced last month .... One word of warning .... the TNC's are RF sensitive, so be on the lookout for a suitable enclosure!