SDO/AIA 193 2017-05-25 18/50/27 UT

This nearly total eclipse is a very rare event. The last SDO solar (partial) eclipse was only in 04.30. 2014.  That repetition has a very low probability for a tiny little satellite. Total solar eclipses aren’t rare; they occur roughly once every year or two somewhere on Earth. But any given spot on our planet’s surface gets darkened by the Moon’s shadow on average only once about every 400 years, so in that sense totality is indeed rare. The same likelihood would apply for a satellite in Earth’s orbit unless the satellite is very close to the moon. NASA claims that” There will also be three lunar shadow events each year from this orbit.”(of the SDO satelite). Why is the moon’s shadow not significantly larger than in a solar eclipse on Earth?