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SCP-2348 Keter ~ medium confidence
SCP-2348
Expected annual
$14.6M
One-time setup
$61.2M
Annual recurring
$13.8M
Personnel
23
One-time capital program dominated by satellite/sensor procurement, spare inventory, and facility build (~$61.2M). Recurring annual costs driven by staffing, satellite operations, vessel charters, contingency reserves, and mission support (~$13.85M/year).
🏗️ One-Time Capital Costs Total: $61.2M
Equipment $45.7M
[#1, #4, #6, #13] Dedicated satellite constellation (3 sats @ $8.0M each = $24,000,000), spaceborne lidar node option ($20,000,000), ocean buoys (4 @ $300,000 = $1,200,000), on-prem compute/storage ($500,000).
Initial Research And Lab Setup $5.0M
[#4, #8, #23] Initial sounding-rocket campaign for characterization (~$2,000,000 for several launches) and in-situ capture/experiment hardware R&D (~$3,000,000).
Redundancy Spare Inventory $5.0M
[#15] Spare satellites/components and replacement buoy/rocket hardware estimated at ~15% of capital equipment (~$4,980,000).
Facilities $4.5M
[#5, #12] Secure Mission Operations Facility build/retrofit ($4.0M) and ground station construction ($0.5M).
Decommissioning Reserve $1.0M
[#25] End-of-life disposal, buoy retrieval, archive migration reserve.
Vessel Purchase $0
[#7] Owned vessel not chosen in baseline plan; recurring chartering used instead.
🔄 Annual Recurring Costs Total: $13.8M/yr
Staff Wages $3.0M/yr
[#10, #11] Scientific personnel (researchers/data analysts/modelers) and satellite/ops/security staff (24/7 rota).
Satellite Operations And Mission Support $2.0M/yr
[#2] Ground ops, mission planning, telemetry, anomaly response, insurance for a 3–4 satellite constellation.
Contingency Emergency Response Fund $2.0M/yr
[#21] Rapid-response reserve for emergency tasking, charters, launches, or incident response.
Vessel Charter Ops $1.5M/yr
[#7] Chartering research vessels for campaigns / rapid response (baseline campaign cadence).
Sounding Rocket Campaigns $1.0M/yr
[#8] Periodic high-altitude sounding rocket launches for sampling/active experiments.
Research And Monitoring $700K/yr
[#13, #22] Data processing/cloud compute and funded scientific research programs / modeling (~$200k cloud + $500k sponsored research).
Energy And Fuel $600K/yr
[#17] Fuel for vessels, generators for buoys/outposts, backup power at ops facility.
Logistics And Transport $500K/yr
[#16] Shipping hardware, crew rotations, helicopter transfers, and campaign logistics.
Cover Story And Legal $400K/yr
[#18, #19] Legal/diplomatic expenses and public relations/cover-story management.
Buoy Maintenance $400K/yr
[#6] Maintenance, repower, and servicing for 4 buoys (~$100k per buoy/year).
Facilities Maintenance $350K/yr
[#5, #12] Mission facility operations, secure comms, redundant power, and ground station running costs.
Insurance And Liability $300K/yr
[#24] Environmental, third-party, and personnel liability coverage for operations.
Security And Enforcement $300K/yr
[#20] Maritime interdiction/patrol retainers and occasional enforcement actions.
Commercial Imagery Subscriptions $200K/yr
[#3] Tasking/subscription to commercial imagery providers as supplement/alternative.
Balloon Campaigns $200K/yr
[#9] High-altitude balloon flights for testing and comm-relay campaigns.
Communications Bandwidth $200K/yr
[#14] Satellite downlink, bandwidth leases and international data transit for high-volume imagery.
In Situ Experimental Campaigns $200K/yr
[#23] Ongoing per-campaign costs for in-situ experiments and safety testing.
Supplies And Consumables $0/yr
[]
⚡ Cost Scenarios
📊 Baseline (baseline) $13.8M/yr
77.0% probability / year
Normal year with scheduled monitoring, routine maintenance, and no major incidents.
routine_operations scheduled_campaigns
🚨 Minor Incident $15.3M/yr
20.0% probability / year +$1.5M vs baseline
Localized failure or loss (e.g., one satellite or multiple buoys), requiring replacement, emergency charters and extra tasking.
satellite_failure buoy_loss limited_public_exposure
🚨 Major Breach $28.9M/yr
3.0% probability / year +$15.0M vs baseline
Significant anomaly activity or public exposure requiring emergency launches, extended vessel ops, large PR/legal response, and replacement hardware.
public_disclosure rapid_anomalous_change multiple_asset_failures
👥 Personnel 23 total
Role Count Notes
Research Scientist 8 [#10] Atmospheric physicists, remote sensing specialists, modelers and data analysts.
Satellite Operations / Engineers 8 [#11] Mission planners, satellite engineers, telemetry/sysadmin staff, 24/7 duty roster.
Security Officer / MTF Agent 4 [#20] Maritime/interdiction and physical security for assets and crews.
Site Director / Executive Staff 1 [#12] Program lead and senior management liaison.
Administrative Staff 2 [#18] Logistics, procurement, and legal/insurance coordination support.
📋 Confidence Notes
Estimates combine well-understood costs (satellites, vessel charters, staffing) with large option-driven variance (build vs lease, spaceborne lidar choice). Wide unit-cost ranges and strategic choices produce moderate confidence.
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