[pantalaimon]

> but solar cells and satellite structures have longer useful lives than inference chips

The limiting factor on the lifetime of any satellite is fuel. Especially for large structures that are influenced a lot by atmospheric drag and solar wind.

[notahacker]

Sure, but periodically refilling a propellant tank for a few large SBSP structure on-orbit involves less complexity than replacing racks of inference chips distributed across constellations of satellites as proposed by current filings. Which is why the latter structures are designed to be disposable and the former not.

SPSP proposals tend to operate in higher orbits than ODC proposals too, as they're less affected by latency and radiation, so their station-keeping requirements are less propellant-intensive.