The VeneSat-1 satellite was also called the ‘Simon Bólivar Satellite’, named after the Caracas-born South American independence hero, the Liberator of Five Republics.

The VeneSat-1 Communications Satellite was designed and manufactured by China Academy of Space Technology (CAST), and is a communications satellite based on the DFH-4 satellite platform, and is fitted with 28 transponders, including 14 C-band, 12 Ku-band and 2 Ka-band transponders. To meet the complicated coverage requirements, VeneSat-1 is fitted with four shaped communication antennas covering South America and the Caribbean.

VeneSat-1 main wholesale customer was the Compañía Anónima Nacional de Teléfonos de Venezuela (CANTV), which has hundreds of thousands of private subscribers through its subsidiary Movilnet, the state-owned company responsible for marketing mobile telephone, Internet and digital television services.

On March 25th 2020, the Venezuelan Ministry of Science and Technology officially declared the VeneSat-1 satellite as lost. Due to a solar array problem, contact with the satellite was lost. The satellite was moved to a orbital graveyard.