" If you're in LEO you're only up for a few years and totally your use COTs (commercial off the shelf) hardware. How do you deal with radiation? You don't. "
Bitflips even affect systems on the ground. Do you have any data on reliable services using such satellites that ignored radiation in their design? And they kept being offered over time like the companies with satellites that dealt with radiation?
Planet uses COTs last I checked. Most CubeSat companies do (at least that I'm aware of).
I wouldn't say completely ignored though. You still want to use ECC memory when possible and have redundancy. The ignoring that I'm talking about is rad hardware. Or rather sapphire chips. Those run up costs quickly and you're forced to use technology that's on par with silicon from 10 years ago.
Bitflips even affect systems on the ground. Do you have any data on reliable services using such satellites that ignored radiation in their design? And they kept being offered over time like the companies with satellites that dealt with radiation?