Flexible bandwidth assignment to spot beams

A satellite, comprising:

• a first receiver that receives an uplink feed signal from at least one gateway;
• a downconverter in communication with the first receiver that provides a downconverted signal based on the uplink feed signal,
• a first filter circuit that receives the downconverted signal and provides a first filtered signal having a first combination of frequency and polarization corresponding to a first user beam;
• a second filter circuit that receives the downconverted signal and provides a second filtered signal having a second combination of frequency and polarization corresponding to a second user beam;
• a third filter circuit that receives the downconverted signal and provides a third filtered signal having a reserved combination of frequency and polarization;
• a switch having an input that receives the third filtered signal, a first output that provides the third filtered signal when the switch is in a first position, and a second output that provides the third filtered signal when the switch is in a second position;
• a first multiplexer having a first input that receives the first filtered signal and a second input that receives the first output of the switch, the first multiplexer has an output that combines the first input and the second input to generate the first user beam;
• and
• a second multiplexer having a first input that receives the second filtered signal and a second input that receives the second output of the switch, the second multiplexer has an output that combines the first input and the second input to generate the second user beam.