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SCP-1958 Safe ~ medium confidence
SCP-1958
Expected annual
$25.2M
One-time setup
$624.8M
Annual recurring
$19.0M
Personnel
10
One-time costs are dominated by an optional full retrieval program (~$600M); ongoing annual costs (~$19M/yr) are driven by robotic servicing reserves, satellite mission operations/telemetry, and secrecy/OPSEC efforts.
🏗️ One-Time Capital Costs Total: $624.8M
Retrieval Program $600.0M
[#4] Crewed or heavy-robotic retrieval program (rendezvous, capture, return) — discretionary single-shot program-level cost; midpoint of analyst range used.
Equipment $16.6M
[#1, #19] Dedicated deep-space monitoring satellite (build + launch) and digital/telemetry archival/cybersecurity setup one-time costs.
Initial Research And Lab Setup $6.7M
[#10, #11, #12, #14] Initial conservation/preservation treatments, forensic/autopsy/analytical assays, cryogenic biological-sample storage setup, and research program startup equipment (mass-spec, EM, surface analysis) and laboratory buildout.
Facilities $1.6M
[#8, #15, #24] One-time vault fit-out for Reliquary 32 expansion, specialized laboratory containment upgrades (BSL/ventilation/HEPA/scrubbers), and decontamination/quarantine facility buildouts; mid-range estimates used.
🔄 Annual Recurring Costs Total: $19.0M/yr
Research And Monitoring $11.7M/yr
[#2, #3, #5] Dedicated satellite operations/mission control and ground-station leases, periodic robotic servicing reserve (baseline reserve for multi-year cadence), and long-distance telemetry/relay bandwidth.
Cover Story And Legal $2.5M/yr
[#6, #7, #20, #21, #23] Suppression/censorship operations, covert counterintel/OPSEC, public-relations cover funding, legal and diplomatic reserves, and media/social monitoring/takedown automation.
Logistics And Transport $2.0M/yr
[#18, #25] Secure transport per-transfer baseline (armored ground/air, escorts) and incremental lunar-facility (LF2-A) resupply/crew/fuel attribution for staging operations.
Staff Wages $1.2M/yr
[#16] Salaries, benefits and overhead for dedicated program personnel (6–12 FTEs).
Contingency Reserve $1.0M/yr
[#22] Rapid-response / contingency fund reserved for unanticipated events (sightings, emergency retrieval, equipment radiation surge); maintained at a recommended reserve level.
Security Staffing $350K/yr
[#17] 24/7 armed security for Reliquary & artifact storage, rapid-response capability and secure transport readiness (4–8 guards).
Supplies And Consumables $82K/yr
[#10, #12, #13] Conservation follow-up treatments and cryogenic consumables/LN2/LHe supply and replacement dewars; periodic servicing.
Facilities Maintenance $70K/yr
[#9] Reliquary 32 recurring storage utilities, climate-control maintenance, access control, insurance, and facilities overhead for archived items.
Cybersecurity And Archiving $35K/yr
[#19] Ongoing encrypted telemetry archiving, backups, offsite redundancy, and active cybersecurity operations to prevent leaks.
⚡ Cost Scenarios
📊 Baseline (baseline) $19.0M/yr
89.0% probability / year
Normal year with routine monitoring, scheduled robotic servicing reserves, archival care, and regular secrecy/OPSEC operations.
routine_ops scheduled_servicing ongoing_research
🚨 Minor Incident $21.0M/yr
10.0% probability / year +$2.0M vs baseline
Localized incident: instrument failure, amateur sighting requires emergency response, or targeted robotic servicing/repair beyond baseline reserve.
public_sighting instrument_failure unexpected_degradation
🚨 Retrieval Attempt $619.0M/yr
1.0% probability / year +$600.0M vs baseline
Decision to attempt recovery/return of SCP-1958 to Earth (crew or heavy robotic campaign) in addition to baseline operations.
policy_decision_to_retrieve detection_of_vulnerability research_breakthrough_requirements
👥 Personnel 10 total
Role Count Notes
Research Scientist 4 [#16] Materials science/propulsion/chemistry researchers conducting analyses of additive and fuel-cell tech.
Engineer / Mission Planner 2 [#16] Orbital operations, mission planning and robotic servicing design.
Mission Operations / TT&C 1 [#2, #16] Satellite mission-control operators handling routine TT&C and ground-station coordination.
Research Technician / Conservator 1 [#10, #16] Artifact conservator and lab technician for stabilization and sampling.
Archivist / Curator 1 [#8, #16] Reliquary 32 curator managing archived artifacts and inventory.
Administrative Staff / Legal Liaison 1 [#16, #21] Program admin, grants/contract management, and legal/diplomatic liaison support.
📋 Confidence Notes
Mid-range point estimates used for wide analyst ranges; major uncertainty centers on whether a retrieval program is pursued and actual cadence/cost of robotic servicing. Many recurring items have analyst-specified baselines which were used when available.
← SCP-1957 ↑ All SCPs SCP-1959 →