[thereisnospork]

I'd guess it is more efficient to have them boost themselves, so that they act as an additional rocket stage. (and so not need the delta V to elevate and then de-elevate starship's orbit.)

[colechristensen]

There is certainly someone doing the optimization problem for the orbit insertion and fuel loads and picking the right set of tradeoffs.

[londons_explore]

The optimization problem also includes drag losses at the lower altitudes.

And those drag losses are a lot lower keeping all the satellites inside the rocket rather than having each experience its own drag.

Might be worth putting an ion drive on the f9 2nd stage for that reason...