It was originally ordered by Japan Communications Satellite Company (JCSAT), which later merged into the JSAT Corporation.
[5] The spacecraft was designed and manufactured by Hughes Space and Communications Company on the HS-393 satellite bus.
[5] Its propulsion system was composed of two R-4d-12 liquid apogee engine (LAE) with a thrust of 490 N (110 lbf).
It also used two axial and four radial 22 N (4.9 lbf) bipropellant thrusters for station keeping and attitude control.
[5] The Ku-band transponders had a Traveling-wave tube#Traveling-wave-tube amplifier (TWTA) output power of 20 watts.