The Galaxy 11 will be operated by Hughes Communications, the world's largest private commercial-satellite operator, with 20 spacecraft owned, leased or operated on behalf of US and international video and television and mobile-communications customers.
The HS-702 spacecraft bus (illustrated left) was introduced in 1994 to offer almost twice the capacity of the highly successful HS-601 satellite. The HS-702 has more than 90 transponders and, at 15kW, double the power can be obtained by gallium-arsenide solar cells, compared with those equipped with traditional silicon cells.
Source: Flight International