Intelsat VI - A 50-channel communication satellite with SS-TDMA

The Intelsat-VI program, comprising five gyrosat-stabilized GEO communication satellites to be launched by STS or Ariane IV in the mid-1980s, is examined from a technical perspective. The spacecraft configuration (spun and despun sections connected by a bearing and power-transfer assembly) and the STS and Ariane mission sequences are presented in drawings, diagrams, and tables of numerical parameters; the communication payload (providing 50 channels in C and K bands with two global, two hemispheric, four zonal, and two spot beams and employing satellite-switched TDMA) is described in detail and illustrated with flow charts; and the spacecraft subsystems (including command, telemetry, propulsion, attitude sensing and control, and beacon tracking) are briefly characterized.