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SCP-2548 Euclid ~ medium confidence
SCP-2548
Expected annual
$36.7M
One-time setup
$871.0M
Annual recurring
$34.6M
Personnel
45
One-time capital (optional deep-space infrastructure or probe) can drive costs into the tens or hundreds of millions; baseline annual operations are dominated by staff, research/monitoring (telescope/DSN/HPC), legal/PR and contingency operations. Expected one-time spend ~ $871M if optional probe/antenna are built; baseline recurring ~ $34.6M/yr.
🏗️ One-Time Capital Costs Total: $871.0M
Probe Mission Capital $800.0M
[#10] Optional remote/in-situ mission design, build and launch (multi-year program; high-end one-time capital).
Deep Space Antenna Build $50.0M
[#6] Optional 34–70 m class dish, transmitters, site and infrastructure buildout (capital).
Contingency Reserve One Time $10.0M
[#24] Initial seed for long-term contingency & escalation reserve (recommended minimum tranche).
Facilities $5.0M
[#2] Secure facility retrofit / mission control center (hardened ops room, EM shielding, classified storage).
Initial Research And Lab Setup $4.2M
[#8, #9] Initial HPC/cluster and long-term data storage cluster (#8) plus specialized radio receivers, cryogenics, time-sync and signal-processing hardware (#9).
Equipment $1.0M
[#3] Site physical-security hardware and onsite equipment (CCTV, badge systems, perimeter control, secure transport equipment).
Initial Disinformation Development $350K
[#14] Initial fabrication of false telemetry, evidence platforms, deepfake assets and hosting for the Voyager false-narrative.
Background Checks Initial $200K
[#4] Initial comprehensive national/international background checks, polygraphs and personnel vetting setup.
Insurance And Shell Setup One Time $200K
[#22] One-time legal/financial infrastructure, shell corporation and insurance/trust setup costs.
🔄 Annual Recurring Costs Total: $34.6M/yr
Probe Operations $10.0M/yr
[#10] Multi-year operations & mission support costs if an in-situ probe program is active (operations phase).
Staff Wages $4.0M/yr
[#1] Core scientific, engineering, operations and administrative staff salaries and benefits (~25 FTE total as the core team).
Research And Monitoring $3.9M/yr
[#5, #7, #8, #9, #11, #12] Observatory/outsourced telescope time (#5), DSN/high-power uplink usage (#7), ongoing data/HPC/cloud fees (#8), maintenance/calibration of specialized receivers (#9), covert research grants/collaborations (#11) and journal/preprint monitoring support (#12) aggregated under research & monitoring operations.
Deep Space Antenna Operations $3.0M/yr
[#6] If antenna is built: operations & maintenance, power, cooling and specialized staff for the ground station.
Emergency Response Retainer $3.0M/yr
[#17] Rapid-response legal/PR/operational retainer and crisis-response pool for public incidents and leak containment.
Cover Story And Legal $2.2M/yr
[#13, #14, #23] Legal retainers/contingency for injunctions/takedowns (#13), ongoing disinformation/media operations (#14), and public outreach/debunking programs (#23) combined for cover-story maintenance.
Logistics And Transport $2.0M/yr
[#16] Travel, covert liaison placements at observatories/agencies and transport for staff/evidence (covert operatives, liaison costs).
Long Term Contingency Fund Annual Allocation $2.0M/yr
[#24] Annual allocation toward the long-term escalation reserve to fund future scale-ups or emergency interventions.
Bribery And Covert Payments $1.5M/yr
[#18] Contingency fund for discrete payments, covert ops and payouts to prevent disclosure.
Third Party Consultancy $1.0M/yr
[#25] Contractor/agency retainers for studies, builds, simulations and temporary exclusive access to agency facilities.
Cybersecurity Opsec $700K/yr
[#15] Cybersecurity, OPSEC infrastructure, intrusion detection, threat intelligence and digital forensics team costs.
Physical Security $600K/yr
[#3] Armed guards payroll, equipment maintenance, badge/CCTV maintenance and perimeter control (operational security staff & systems).
Energy And Utilities $250K/yr
[#20] Power for transmitters, cryogenic cooling, data-centers and climate control for sensitive equipment.
Supplies And Consumables $125K/yr
[#21] Consumables, cryogens, replacement RF components, cabling and routine lab supplies.
Insurance And Shell Maintenance $125K/yr
[#22] Ongoing maintenance of legal/financial cover structures, trusts and shell corporations.
Training And Drills $100K/yr
[#19] Regular OPSEC, tabletop and red-team exercises with PR/legal/research coordination.
Background Checks Ongoing $75K/yr
[#4] Ongoing reinvestigations, polygraphs and personnel reliability program costs.
Facilities Maintenance $0/yr
[]
⚡ Cost Scenarios
📊 Baseline (baseline) $34.6M/yr
87.0% probability / year
Normal, uneventful year with standard monitoring, OPSEC, legal and research operations and no major public incidents.
routine_monitoring no_public_leak no_major_incident
🚨 Minor Incident $37.1M/yr
10.0% probability / year +$2.5M vs baseline
Localized leak or suspicious publication requiring rapid-response legal/PR, small settlements, emergency media buys and targeted covert payments.
limited_public_leak suspicious_journal_paper amateur_astronomer_reporting
🚨 Major Breach $94.6M/yr
3.0% probability / year +$60.0M vs baseline
Significant public detection or international exposure requiring immediate scale-up: large PR/suppression operations, rapid procurement or partial activation of contingency reserves (may include urgent capital spending on infrastructure or international legal settlements).
widespread_media_exposure major_public_discovery international_inquiry
👥 Personnel 45 total
Role Count Notes
Research Scientist 10 [#1] Core scientific staff for signal analysis, interpretation and project research (portion of the 10 scientists/engineers).
Engineer / Maintenance 5 [#1, #9] Engineers and technical staff for instrument maintenance, receivers, and facility systems.
Operations / IT Specialist 5 [#1, #8] Operations and IT staff for mission control, data pipelines and HPC operations.
Administrative / PR / Legal Support 5 [#1, #13, #14] Administrative, public-relations and legal support staff maintaining cover stories and coordinating responses.
Security Officer / MTF Agent 12 [#3] Armed guards and site security staff (estimate based on 12 guards used in cost estimate).
Cybersecurity Specialist 4 [#15] Cyber/OPSEC team maintaining hardened servers, monitoring and threat intelligence.
Journal Monitoring / Rapid-Response Review Team 3 [#12] Staff dedicated to monitoring publications, triage and rapid academic response.
Covert Field Operative / Liaison 6 [#16] Placed operatives and liaison officers at partner observatories and agencies (travel and cover costs covered in recurring budget).
📋 Confidence Notes
Estimates are based on detailed analyst notes with ranges for most line items, but several high-cost options (deep-space antenna, in-situ probe, contingency drawdowns) are optional and highly uncertain; operational behaviour of an informational containment programme and future incident frequency also add uncertainty.
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