The main body of the spacecraft was spun at 30 revolutions per minute (rpm) to impart gyroscopic stability to the satellite in the Earth's gravitation field.
A liquid bi-propellant propulsion subsystem was used on the Intelsat VI series satellites, and used nitrogen tetroxide and mono-methyl hydrazine.
The solar array on the Intelsat VI was sized to provide about 2600 watts of power at the beginning of the satellites life.
The Intelsat VI satellites used nickel hydrogen pressure vessel batteries to support operation when the spacecraft was in eclipse behind the earth.
As noted in the introduction, the Intelsat VI series of satellites were designed with a cylindrical spacecraft body which was covered by photovoltaic (PV) solar cells.
Since the satellite was rotating at 30 rpm, a flat panel solar array on a side of the spacecraft would be exposed to the sun intermittently and not generate continuous power.
The satellite had two C-band "hemi" beam coverages which were designed to cover the landmass areas as seen from any of the orbital locations.
Four beams were designed to provide smaller zone coverage for specific areas of the earth depending on the orbital location.
The satellite also had two Ku-band steerable spot beams which could be moved to cover any specific area on the earth, and could be re-pointed as needed.
The Intelsat VI satellites used C-band for the TC&R subsystem, and a pair of omni-directional antennas were mounted on a deploy-able boom.
When launched by the U.S. Space Shuttle a solid propellant perigee stage (motor and carrier) would be attached to the bottom of the spacecraft.
Intelsat flight controllers jettisoned the perigee motor which detached the satellite from the Titan upper stage.
A 1/2 scale model is on display in the main lobby of the Intelsat Headquarters building, which is located at 3400 International Drive NW, Washington DC 20008.