The twelfth Tracking and Data Relay Satellite, it is the second third-generation spacecraft to be launched, following TDRS-11 in 2013.

Fully fueled, it has a mass of 3,454 kg (7,615 lb), with a design life of 15 years.

[1] It carries two steerable antennas capable of providing S, Ku and Ka band communications for other spacecraft, with an additional array of S-band transponders for lower-rate communications with five further satellites.

[5] After launch, TDRS-12 was deployed into a high-perigee geosynchronous transfer orbit.

[6] The spacecraft raised itself into a geosynchronous orbit using its onboard propulsion system.