Comment by testing43523

1. The proximity improves performance: - Range^2: imaging, other sensing, closing link budgets (data you're sending or signals you're sensing) - Range^3: SAR - Range^4: Active sensing (lidar, radar, etc) - Speed: Comms latency, time to intercept - If you can build systems fast/cheap, this physics unlock creates a new paradigm for system architectures (compared to traditional cost/schedule/performance tradeoffs)

2. Diversification is important for resilience/deterrence - Drag self cleans debris - It's below the belts where radiation gets trapped after a nuclear detonation. Makes for not only a survivable orbit, but one with assured reconstitution

I think the main purpose, atleast in this case, is to enable very high resolution satellite imagery (whether or not that being a good thing in and of itself is another matter).