Hispasat 1A and B were the first two satellites in the national system operated by the Spanish satellite communications operator Hispasat, for a dual civil/military mission, offering services to telecommunications operators and radio broadcasting both in Europe and North Africa and America.

Hispasat 1A was launched in September 1992, and Hispasat 1B in July 1993. From its orbital position of 30 degrees West above the Atlantic and close to the Brazilian coast, this was the first European satellite system to provide transatlantic capacity, simultaneously covering all the Latin American countries and the United States, areas that have a great deal in common both culturally and linguistically. The Hispasat multi-mission satellite system consists of a fleet of 4 satellites, a satellite control centre near Madrid, and two payload centres. The Hispasat X-band governmental mission is intensively used by the Spanish Ministry of Defence for communicating with Spanish forces.

Insat-2A and Insat-2B of the Insat-2 series of satellites built by ISRO are multi-purpose satellites for telecommunication, television broadcasting, and meteorological services.

They carry seventeen transponders - 12 operating in the normal C-band frequency and 6 in the lower extended C-band. Seven of the normal C-band transponders have wide beam coverage and the remaining have zonal coverages.

For meteorology, they feature a Very High-Resolution Radiometer (VHRR) with a 2 km resolution in the visible band and an 8 km resolution in the water vapour band. Charge Coupled Device (CCD) camera operating in visible, near-infrared, and shortwave infrared bands with 1 km resolution.