> also doesn't really make that much sense... surely a satellite does what this does but better? China has no shortage of high quality spy satellites. I don't think it's obvious what the purpose is.

Don't believe the spy angle that much.. maybe this is not about what its purpose is right now, but what it might quickly need to be at some point.. imagine nations start shooting their satellites, orbit becomes unhabitable, and you still want to go spying.. or just replace your satellite based comms network!