Hoshi Sato was born Kyoto, Japan on July 9, 2129. After mastering a number of Earth languages, Sato went to school to become an exo-linguist and spend three years at Starfleet Training Command. She was discharged for breaking her company commander's arm after a dispute.

In 2151, Sato taught languages at Amazon University but took a commission aboard Enterprise under the command of Jonathan Archer as communications officer. Ensign Sato served on Enterprise until the ship was decommissioned in 2161.

Following the signing of the Federation Charter, Sato went on to serve in the Federation Starfleet for a time. She retired from Starfleet with the rank of Lieutenant Commander, sometime in the mid-2160s, and went on to develop the linguacode translation matrix. By the end of her career, she was known to speak 86 languages.

Sato was married at some point. She and her family were among four thousand people who died on Tarsus IV in 2246 when a food shortage caused by an exotic fungus threatened the colony's population. Governor Kodos ordered the deaths of Sato and the others in order to save the rest of the colony.