I have been following this story. I am glad you posted. What do you think it has been doing for a year?
Outstanding surveillance platform. It's been up for a year but we don't know what kind of orbital maneuvers they have been developing with it. I suspect it is nimble enough to be overhead any trouble spot on the planet within a couple of orbits, and we don't know the apogee or perigee change capabilities it has. I'm pretty sure the only reason they would need to de-orbit would be to replenish consumables.
I can think of a whole bunch of interesting things to do with a vehicle like this one in orbit for a year.