Does not really matter what wording they will put in. It is clear that project will go to pay or get nothing way. So just start working on decommissioning it.
Free software really need better ways to pay developers, that will allow to avoid crap like that.
couple of old 2.5 HDD + usb to SATA converter. But Pi5 is hardly suitable to host anything. May just get old PC (which gives you HDD too). There are plenty for < $100 or even free. But you are going to pay more for power.
I do not see why it will cause any problems with exception of stacking mapping layer. I wonder can LVM do it natively without adding intermediate block device of 2 x 2G?
Why create yourself a headache and still get substandard and no-warranty drive. If you want cheaper drives go for reconditioned/refurbished/used drives. Same risks, better product. Old enterprise SAS drives are cheap and many still have plenty of heath in them.
Did I say that it is impossible? It is possible but take way too long and will cost too much. Not to mention huge environmental cost of renewables comparing to nuclear.
Do you plan to compress video ( which generally already compressed format) when saving to remote location? I do not see use case for it, as you ether use lossless compression and not compressing it in any meaningful way, or just re-encode to different format and loose quality.
Second option is simpler to achieve by re-encoding before sending out.
Goal is to get data on reentry, if it can be achieved with small modification on already build SS, than why not. I'm bit surprised by number of clogging problems in test flight 2 and 3.
They are definitely not giving a f^&* over radiation belts. Polaris dawn and now this one. But we need know orbit details to be sure.