As a complementary to terrestrial mobile communication systems, mobile satellite communication system can fill the gaps that cannot be covered by terrestrial network, and provides an irreplaceable solution for emergency communication in disaster. To pave the road for future satellite/terrestrial integrated communication networks, ITU-R invited proposals for candidate Radio Interface Technology (RIT) for the satellite component of International Mobile Telecommunications (IMT)Advanced. China proposed the RIT of Long Term Evolution (LTE)-satellite as a candidate to be considered as IMT-Advanced satellite technology. The submitted LTE-satellite candidate RIT is specified based on terrestrial LTE-Advanced FDD standards that are developed in 3GPP. Considering satellite requirements, a number of modifications to LTE-Advanced are made to adapt to satellite radio transmission environments. This paper provides a general introduction of the new characteristics of LTE-satellite.