Was satellite communication the goal of blockstream all along or did a random thought/opportunity come around at some point over the last couple years and it appeared like a good pivot?
Not even a pivot, IMHO (Blockstream employee here). Just cool infrastructure which may even end up paying for itself...
No, Lightning Network is a total dud and no one is using it, so they rented some bandwidth from satellites used for lots of other things and are trying to look innovative with this nonsense.