← SCP Cost Explorer Read on SCP Wiki ↗
SCP-1548 Keter ~ medium confidence
SCP-1548
Expected annual
$477.1M
One-time setup
$6.9B
Annual recurring
$466.6M
Personnel
123
Large one-time capital investments (~$6.87B) are required to build/launch/replace the MALAKBEL fleet, construct secure facilities and reserves; recurring annual costs (~$467M/year) are dominated by on-orbit maintenance/replacement amortization, liaison/censorship/legal programs, and ongoing research/monitoring.
🏗️ One-Time Capital Costs Total: $6.9B
Equipment $5.5B
[#1, #2, #5, #16] MALAKBEL satellite fleet build (~10 probes), launch/orbital insertion campaign, off-planet instrumentation integration, and red-team vehicles/equipment.
On Orbit Replacement Reserve $750.0M
[#4] Decadal reserve for on-orbit maintenance, spare builds and replacement launches (amortized separately; reserve held as one-time capital).
Facilities $300.0M
[#17, #24] Construction of hardened SCIF-class mission control/data centers and Earth-based/backup observatory facilities (optical/radio/neutrino).
Contingency Fund Reserve $275.0M
[#15] Standing contingency/reserve fund for emergency response, public safety and surge operations.
Initial Research And Lab Setup $16.5M
[#6, #23, #13] Development of detection software / ML models and initial secure compute infrastructure; seed R&D for replacement/next-gen sensors.
Stygian Iris Setup $6.0M
[#8] One-time setup costs for Operation STYGIAN IRIS liaison program and MOUs.
Embedded Personnel Program Setup $3.0M
[#9] Initial placement/training/logistics costs to embed personnel in civilian agencies and observatories.
Misinformation Initial $1.2M
[#10] One-time creation of initial fake literature, media assets, and seeded publications.
Personnel Onboarding One Time $600K
[#20] One-time onboarding, vetting and medical baseline costs for personnel security.
🔄 Annual Recurring Costs Total: $466.6M/yr
On Orbit Maintenance $250.0M/yr
[#4] Annualized cost for on-orbit maintenance, spare replacements and periodic replacement launches (amortized to annual).
Research And Monitoring $72.5M/yr
[#6, #23, #24] Data storage, HPC compute/ML pipelines, long-term R&D/technology refresh, and operations for supplemental sensors/backup observatories.
Cover Story And Legal $46.0M/yr
[#8, #10, #11, #18, #19] STYGIAN IRIS liaison operations, misinformation campaign maintenance, takedown/legal actions, PR grants and insurance/legal contingency funding.
Staff Wages $42.5M/yr
[#3, #7, #9, #16] Salaries and benefits for flight controllers/mission ops, research scientists/data scientists, embedded personnel, and rapid-response red-team field staff.
Covert Influence $27.5M/yr
[#14] Discreet payments, diplomatic/quiet diplomacy budgets and contingency payouts to foreign agencies or actors.
Facilities Maintenance $12.5M/yr
[#17] Operations and maintenance for hardened mission control/data centers and accredited facilities.
Cybersecurity And Sigint $7.5M/yr
[#13] Ongoing secure communications, intrusion monitoring, and SIGINT/counterintelligence to prevent data exfiltration.
Logistics And Transport $3.0M/yr
[#22] Travel, transport, field team deployments, and miscellaneous ops logistics.
Personnel Security Vetting $1.8M/yr
[#20] Continuous vetting, polygraphing, psychological monitoring and medical follow-up for sensitive staff.
Observatory Monitoring Payments $1.8M/yr
[#12] Payments to private observatories, emergency evidence recovery, and routine purchases of civilian data.
Outreach And Amateur Grants $1.1M/yr
[#21] Grants and loaner equipment for amateur astronomy groups and citizen-science funnels to approved channels.
Supplies And Consumables $500K/yr
[#5] Small recurring maintenance and consumables for instrumentation integrations on host platforms.
⚡ Cost Scenarios
📊 Baseline (baseline) $466.6M/yr
83.0% probability / year
Normal operational year with no major public exposures or satellite losses; routine monitoring, maintenance, censorship and liaison activities continue.
routine_operations scheduled_replacements regular_censorship_activity
🚨 Minor Incident $469.6M/yr
15.0% probability / year +$3.0M vs baseline
Localized civilian exposure or leak requiring rapid-response retrievals, limited buyouts, intensified legal takedowns and short-term surge operations.
civilian_observation partial_data_leak localized_media_exposure
🚨 Major Breach $966.6M/yr
2.0% probability / year +$500.0M vs baseline
Significant exposure or loss (e.g., satellite destroyed/exposed, wide public dissemination, or severe diplomatic fallout) triggering replacement launches, large diplomatic payouts and mass mitigation.
satellite_loss wide_public_exposure mass_cognitohazard_broadcast
👥 Personnel 123 total
Role Count Notes
Flight Controller / Mission Ops 20 [#3] 24/7 satellite operations, telemetry, ground station staffing.
Research Scientist 30 [#7] Solar physicists, data scientists and thaumaturgy specialists analyzing imagery and anomalies.
Embedded Personnel 50 [#9] Deep-cover placements within civilian agencies and observatories (managed staff count).
Red-team Agent / Field Team 10 [#16] Rapid-response teams for evidence recovery and localized containment of civilian observations.
Data Engineer / HPC Admin 8 [#6] Maintain storage, processing pipelines, and ML detection systems.
Administrative Staff / Liaison Officer 5 [#8] STYGIAN IRIS liaisons, legal coordination and program management.
📋 Confidence Notes
Analyst notes provide detailed line-item ranges and program structure, enabling midpoint estimates; large uncertainties remain due to the anomalous nature of SCP-1548, uncertain replacement cadence for near-Sun hardware, and diplomatic contingencies.
← SCP-1547 ↑ All SCPs SCP-1549 →