nothingtoseehere-move-along:

• What happened when the satellite required repairs? No matter how high tech the hardware was, it had to have breakdowns occasionally. 
• Did Cress just have to MacGyver it until someone could be sent up to repair it? Did she just have to wait and hope someone got there before the problem became too serious? 
• Were heavily glamoured workers brought up to fix things?
• Sidenote: Don’t imagine Cress seeing another real live person (albeit in a space suit) on the other side of her viewports while they fix a faulty exterior seal, or standing aside while a mechanic patches up the damaged water recycler, only to be entirely ignored in both cases because Sybil has made sure they cannot interact with her. It will only make you sad.
• What happened when Cress got sick? No matter how sterile the environment, Sybil would no doubt carry in the occasional cold or flu. 
• Did she get a sanctioned break from her work to recover? Or did she have to muscle her way through?
• Did Sybil bring medications or did Cress just have to suffer through without them?
• Sidenote: Don’t imagine a much younger Cress with her blankets wrapped tight around her shoulders, her teeth chattering and her face flushed with fever as she tries to keep working because that’s what Mistress Sybil said to do. It will only make you sad.
• Was the satellite ever affected by space weather? Solar storms can wreak havoc with electrical systems, and it’s likely that there were a number of solar storms within that seven year period.
• Were there ever any storms severe enough to cause the loss of power, ruined circuitry, and burned out systems that modern satellites face?
• How often did Cress have to reboot all her computer systems and restart all her research and essentially start everything over from scratch after losing it all to a particularly nasty storm? 
• Sidenote: Don’t imagine a frightened Cress watching the power flicker off, then back on while she weathers a storm, hoping that the back-up systems will maintain life support after the main ones collapse. It will only make you sad.
• Conclusion: Don’t think about the satellite. It will only make you sad.