A satellite comprising: a feeder antenna subsystem comprising a plurality of focused-beam antenna elements, FAEs,, each FAE having a forward-link FAE port, wherein each of the FAEs is configured to receive a respective beam-weighted, mutually phase-synchronized forward uplink signal from a corresponding one of a plurality of geographically distributed gateway terminals; a user antenna subsystem comprising an array of beamforming antenna elements, BAEs,, each BAE having a forward-link BAE port; and a forward repeater subsystem having a forward uplink frequency range and a forward downlink frequency range, the forward repeater subsystem comprising a plurality of forward-link pathways, each of the plurality of forward-link pathways being coupled between a respective one of the forward-link FAE ports and a respective one of the forward-link BAE ports, and each of the plurality of forward-link pathways having an input in the forward uplink frequency range and an output in the forward downlink frequency range, wherein the forward-link pathways are configured to generate a plurality of beam-weighted, mutually phase-synchronized forward downlink signals from the received beam-weighted, mutually phase-synchronized forward uplink signals, wherein the beam-weighted, mutually phase-synchronized forward uplink signals reuse a same frequency, and wherein the BAEs are configured to transmit the beam-weighted, mutually phase-synchronized forward downlink signals to cause the beam-weighted, mutually phase-synchronized forward downlink signals to spatially superpose to form a plurality of forward user beams corresponding to respective user beam coverage areas, wherein each of the BAEs is configured to transmit to each of the user beam coverage areas such that the beam-weighted, mutually phase-synchronized forward downlink signals spatially combine at each of the user beam coverage areas to form a respective one of the plurality of forward user beams. a feeder antenna subsystem comprising a plurality of focused-beam antenna elements, FAEs,, each FAE having a forward-link FAE port, wherein each of the FAEs is configured to receive a respective beam-weighted, mutually phase-synchronized forward uplink signal from a corresponding one of a plurality of geographically distributed gateway terminals; a user antenna subsystem comprising an array of beamforming antenna elements, BAEs,, each BAE having a forward-link BAE port; and a forward repeater subsystem having a forward uplink frequency range and a forward downlink frequency range, the forward repeater subsystem comprising a plurality of forward-link pathways, each of the plurality of forward-link pathways being coupled between a respective one of the forward-link FAE ports and a respective one of the forward-link BAE ports, and each of the plurality of forward-link pathways having an input in the forward uplink frequency range and an output in the forward downlink frequency range, wherein the forward-link pathways are configured to generate a plurality of beam-weighted, mutually phase-synchronized forward downlink signals from the received beam-weighted, mutually phase-synchronized forward uplink signals, wherein the beam-weighted, mutually phase-synchronized forward uplink signals reuse a same frequency, and wherein the BAEs are configured to transmit the beam-weighted, mutually phase-synchronized forward downlink signals to cause the beam-weighted, mutually phase-synchronized forward downlink signals to spatially superpose to form a plurality of forward user beams corresponding to respective user beam coverage areas, wherein each of the BAEs is configured to transmit to each of the user beam coverage areas such that the beam-weighted, mutually phase-synchronized forward downlink signals spatially combine at each of the user beam coverage areas to form a respective one of the plurality of forward user beams.