SCP-1815 — SCP-1815 | Cost Breakdown

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SCP-1815 Euclid ~ medium confidence

SCP-1815

Expected annual

$131.8M

One-time setup

$2.0B

Annual recurring

$102.8M

Personnel

Initial capital costs are large (~$1.96B) driven primarily by space assets, probe development and high-impact contingency reserves; recurring annual costs are substantial (~$103M/year) driven by satellite operations, staffing, misinformation/response capabilities and reserves.

🏗️ One-Time Capital Costs Total: $2.0B

Satellite Build And Launch $800.0M

[#1] Design, build and launch of three high-gain radio-telescopic satellites (aggregate midpoint estimate).

Quicksilver Probe Development $400.0M

[#7] Development and build of at least one Quicksilver planetary probe (initial mission development / baseline mission cost).

Global Blackout Contingency $300.0M

[#16] Contingency reserve for large-scale internet/communications blackout coordination and compensation (one-time contingency estimate).

Direct Containment Contingency $200.0M

[#20] Contingency reserve for direct containment/intervention hardware R&D (ion propulsion, interception tech).

Probe Spares And Reserve $125.0M

[#8] Upfront cost to maintain ready-to-launch probe stock, spares and reserved launch slots.

Facilities $50.0M

[#3] Hardened Site-59 build/retrofit capital fitout estimate.

Public Compensation Reserve $50.0M

[#21] One-time reserve for public compensation/economic mitigation if disclosure occurs.

Launch Procurement Reserve $20.0M

[#9] One-time reservation/procurement fees and contracts for launch capacity and contingency launches.

Legal Initial Reserved $10.0M

[#18] Initial legal/crisis PR reserve and setup costs.

Compute And Storage $2.8M

[#10] Initial HPC cluster, long-term storage hardware and classified network setup.

Spare Parts Initial $2.5M

[#12] Initial stock of cryogenics, RF front-ends, rad-hard electronics and related test equipment.

Signal Processing Software $600K

[#11] Development of signal processing / Janus Event detection software (initial development cost).

Initial Research And Lab Setup $500K

[#19] Initial lab/simulation buildout and instrumentation for research/modeling.

Cybersecurity Setup $300K

[#17] Initial secure communications/HSM setup and one-time cybersecurity hardening.

Equipment $0

[]

🔄 Annual Recurring Costs Total: $102.8M/yr

Satellite Operations $30.0M/yr

[#2] Flight controllers, telemetry/telecommand, mission planning and routine operations for Ceres/Liber/Libera.

Probe Spares Maintenance $12.0M/yr

[#8] Storage, maintenance and upkeep of ready-to-launch probe spares and reserved hardware.

Global Blackout Reserve $10.0M/yr

[#16] Annual reserve allocation for large-scale legal/technical contingency planning and reimbursements.

Staff Wages $8.0M/yr

[#5] Salaries and benefits for core scientific, engineering and analysis staff (baseline program staff wages).

Field Response $6.0M/yr

[#15] Costs to maintain and deploy global misinformation/containment strike teams and on-site rapid-response operations.

Facilities Maintenance $5.0M/yr

[#4] Site-59 utilities, maintenance, physical security, environmental controls and lifecycle replacements.

Logistics And Transport $5.0M/yr

[#9] Annual logistics, transport and launch-related retained capacity / mission logistics.

International Liaison $5.0M/yr

[#13] Diplomatic costs, covert agreements and coordination with national space agencies and governments.

Public Compensation Reserve Per Year $5.0M/yr

[#21] Annual reserve allocation for potential economic mitigation or compensation if partial disclosure occurs.

Launch Retainer $5.0M/yr

[#9] Annual retained capacity / reservation fees with launch providers to enable rapid launches.

Security Staff $2.5M/yr

[#6] Armed guards, escort teams, site security managers and background check programs.

Legal And Litigation Reserve $2.0M/yr

[#18] Annual reserve for whistleblower lawsuits, litigation and crisis PR readiness.

Research And Monitoring $1.5M/yr

[#19] Ongoing theoretical modelling, lab simulations and research programs.

Cover Story And Legal $1.5M/yr

[#14] Ongoing misinformation/cover-story production (fabricated datasets, insertion operations).

Cybersecurity $1.5M/yr

[#17] Ongoing SOC, pen-testing, encrypted distribution and air-gapped backup maintenance.

Archival And Redaction $1.0M/yr

[#22] Personnel and tooling for secure removal or alteration of public and institutional records.

Compute And Storage Maintenance $600K/yr

[#10] Cloud/hardware refresh, backups and maintenance of data storage and compute clusters.

Spare Parts Replenishment $550K/yr

[#12] Annual replenishment of LNAs, cryocooler spares and rad-hard electronics.

Training And Drills $500K/yr

[#23] Regular training exercises, Janus Event drills and cross-agency rehearsals.

Signal Processing Maintenance $175K/yr

[#11] Ongoing software maintenance, ML retraining and monitoring for Janus detection.

Supplies And Consumables $0/yr

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⚡ Cost Scenarios

📊 Baseline (baseline) $102.8M/yr

94.0% probability / year

Uneventful year with standard operations, monitoring and routine maintenance; no Janus Event response or major incidents.

normal operations no Janus Event no public exposure

🚨 Janus Event Response $611.8M/yr

5.0% probability / year +$509.0M vs baseline

A Janus Event is detected requiring rapid Quicksilver probe mission launch, additional mission ops and expanded response.

Janus Event detected anomalous transmission change need to launch/dispatch Quicksilver mission

🚨 Internet Blackout Activation $452.8M/yr

1.0% probability / year +$350.0M vs baseline

Misinformation fails at scale and a coordinated internet/communications blackout and major compensation/resolution efforts are executed.

widespread observatory/public disclosure failure of misinformation government-coordinated communications intervention

👥 Personnel 70 total

Role	Count	Notes
Research Scientist	12	[#5,#19] Radio astronomers, theoretical modelling and Level-3+ research staff.
Signal Analyst / Data Scientist	10	[#5,#11] Signal processing, ML model maintenance and anomaly detection teams.
Spacecraft Engineer / Mission Planner	8	[#5,#7] Spacecraft design, mission planning and probe engineering.
Flight Controllers / Mission Operations	6	[#2,#5] Satellite mission controllers, telemetry and command staff.
Level-3+ Researcher / Senior Staff	4	[#5] Senior researchers and decision-makers for anomaly escalation.
Security Officer / MTF Agent	20	[#6] Armed guards, escort teams and specialized containment response personnel.
Administrative Staff	5	[#4,#13] Administrative, liaison and coordination roles (including international liaison support).
Engineer / Maintenance	5	[#4,#12,#17] Facility, cryogenics and cybersecurity maintenance personnel.

📋 Confidence Notes

Many major line items (satellite/probe development, blackout contingencies) are highly uncertain and depend on operational choices; recurring operational budgets are better understood but still estimated. Mid-range estimates used; therefore confidence is medium.

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