Shin Satellite of Thailand has awarded a contract to Space Systems/Loral (SS/L) for design and manufacture of a high-powered geostationary broadband communications satellite called iPSTAR 1.
The hybrid 14kW, 100 Ka-band and Ku-band transponder satellite will provide direct desktop multimedia services to Asia, India and Australia, from 2003.
Shin Sat is a subsidiary of Shin Corporation, Thailand's largest telecommunications company and the operator of three Thaicom satellites equipped with C-band and Ku-band transponders.
IPSTAR 1 will be based on the SS/L 1300S spacecraft bus.
Source: Flight International