There are many possible factors that can be used in decision-making for agreeing to, writing or modifying a protective order.
The first set of factors are Rules of Civil Procedure, local court rules (Rules of the US Court of Federal Claims) and legal precedent set in similar cases.
Then there are Judge Sweeney's personal and background factors and Judge Sweeney's previous judgment records and opinion.
It is not possible to suss all the factors out, unless one is privy to all of that mentioned above...
I am not privy to it all.
The discovery request is a reasonable one for matters of fact. These factual matters if exposed to the public can have wide-ranging effects as you know and anticipate.
However, Judge Sweeney has array of options she can use to get a complete set of facts before rendering a verdict and to do so without violating high standards of pre-trial and trial judicial practice.