KT Sat, a subsidiary of Korea-based KT Corporation, signed the contract with Orbital Sceience Corp. (Orbital ATK – Northrop Grumman) in May 2008 for the construction of KoreaSat-6 satellite.  The satellite replaced KoreaSat-3, that was sold to satellite operator ABS in 2010, and  would provide Internet access, multimedia, broadcasting and fixed communications services.

The spacecraft’s engineering, manufacturing, integration and test activities took place at Orbital’s satellite manufacturing facility located in Dulles, VA. Thales Alenia Space acted as prime contractor for the project, providing the communications payload and deliver the KoreaSat-6 satellite to KT Sat.

KoreaSat-6, positioned at 116° East, will carry 30 active Ku-Band channels that provide Direct Broadcast Services (DBS) and Fixed Satellite Services (FSS) to the people of Korea. The Orbital’s STAR-2 platform will support 3.4kW of payload power and will have a 15-year on-orbit mission life.

KoreaSat-6 was successfully launched on December 29th, 2010, on an Ariane 5 rocket operated by launch operator Arianespace from their launch base in French Guiana. The satellite was launched in a dual launch with Hispasat-1E from satellite operator Hispasat from Spain.

After succesfully reaching orbit, KoreaSat-6 satellite was renamed Olleh 1 in January 2011 after KT had launched the unified brand “Olleh” for both fixed-line and cellular broadband services.