You can research the satellite without researching accumulators, the latter being required to make the satellite, leaving you unable to actually craft the satellite. It's very much a prerequisite, just not one that gets displayed. That's what this is about.

And pretty much every other research ...

You can research the Space Science pack (and with that, the satellite), without researching accumulators, which are part of the satellite recipe.
Making it impossible to craft the satellite without going back to research accumulators.

Pretty sure that this is pretty much not an issue, more of a ...