The article misses the most important point.
The lifetime of satellites, particularly recon satellites, is determined NOT buy solar panel degradation or even gamma particle impacts on memory.
Rather, it is fuel for the attitude thrusters. They correct for gravity (lunar) perturbations and solar wind perturbations. This is what keeps the cameras precisely pointed.
If you can refuel the thrusters in space, that is one hell of a lot of launch requirement for replacements that reduces.
This is actually just as important to future combat as aerial refueling is to modern air combat. A surveillance satellite that can be autonomously refueled can be retasked and moved far more frequently, without having an hard per-unit limit on how many moves it can make.
A *combat* satellite could be reloaded and resupplied by almost the same method.
Also worth noting, per your other post about Communist propaganda - this wasn’t the Commies crowing about this happening. This was outside observers noting it happening, with the Chinese not saying anything at all about it.