Posted: Fri, Apr 18, 2014, 6:48 AM ET (1048 GMT)
Space Systems/Loral (SS/L) has won a contract from a Japanese company to build two direct broadcasting satellites, the companies announced Thursday. SS/L will build the JCSat-15 and JCSat-16 satellites for Sky Perfect JSat for launch in 2016. JCSat-15 will replace the existing N-SAT-110 satellite at 110 degrees east in GEO, which provides direct to home television broadcasts to Japan for the Sky PerfectTV! service. JCSat-16 will serve as an on-orbit spare for the company's satellite fleet. Both spacecraft are based on SS/L's 1300-series bus. Terms of the contracts were not disclosed.

Related Links:

•  Space News article
•  SS/L press release
•  Sky Perfect JSAT press release