← SCP Cost Explorer Read on SCP Wiki ↗
SCP-2686 Euclid ~ medium confidence
SCP-2686
Expected annual
$56.6M
One-time setup
$252.0M
Annual recurring
$54.5M
Personnel
20
One-time capital to establish dedicated lunar comms, emergency rescue readiness, and sensor/rover hardware is estimated at roughly $252M; annual operations are dominated by logistics (resupply and rover missions), facilities maintenance, and staffing totaling about $54.5M/yr. Main cost drivers are launch/resupply frequency, whether weekly traversal is crewed or uncrewed, and the scale of dedicated communications and rescue assets.
🏗️ One-Time Capital Costs Total: $252.0M
Emergency Rescue One Time $75.0M
[#18] Standby lander/ascent vehicle kept ready or optioning/commercial reservation to provide rapid extraction capability.
Comms One Time $60.0M
[#16] Dedicated relay satellite(s) / ground-station hardware procurement and secure encrypted link infrastructure (baseline dedicated setup).
Long Term Escalation One Time $50.0M
[#28] Escalation/reserve placeholder for full containment scale-up if anomalous behavior intensifies.
Sensor Package One Time $12.0M
[#4] Deployment of 4–8 ruggedized lunar sensor nodes (optical, multispectral, LiDAR, seismometer) and installation hardware.
Power Generation One Time $10.0M
[#3] Solar arrays + battery bank procurement/installation (chosen over RTG for baseline).
Rover Procurement One Time $10.0M
[#8] Procurement of two unpressurized tele-operated rovers (baseline; pressurized crewed rover would be substantially more expensive).
Bsl4 One Time $10.0M
[#14] Establishment or retrofit of an Earth-side high-containment facility for returned samples/anomalous material handling.
Contingency Reserve One Time $10.0M
[#25] Specialized anomalous contingency fund (initial endowment portion).
Eva Suits One Time $6.0M
[#9] Purchase of 2–4 modern lunar EVA suits and spare parts for sterile maintenance (baseline quantity).
Insurance Reserve One Time $5.0M
[#26] Internal reserve fund for lost assets and major one-time writeoffs.
Initial Research And Lab Setup $1.5M
[#13] Initial instrument suite and sealed sample handling setup for in-situ analysis; excludes BSL-4 retrofit (separately listed).
Tethered Systems One Time $1.5M
[#5] Anchor/tether/winch systems and mounting hardware for tethered sensor nodes and retrieval systems.
Quarantine Setup One Time $1.0M
[#15] Initial quarantine/decontamination facility setup for returning personnel and samples.
Facilities $0
[#2] Assumes Outpost Thoth-1 is already established; no full new habitat construction included. If Foundation must build Thoth-1, this item would become a major capital expense (see analyst note #2).
Equipment $0
[]
🔄 Annual Recurring Costs Total: $54.5M/yr
Logistics And Transport $20.5M/yr
[#7, #8, #17] Weekly rover operations (uncrewed baseline) plus launch/logistics/resupply cadence and periodic rover overhauls; includes conservative per-launch delivery budget to lunar surface.
Facilities Maintenance $10.0M/yr
[#1] Life-support, habitat maintenance, environmental control, structural upkeep and utilities for Outpost Thoth-1 (incremental operations).
Staff Wages $4.5M/yr
[#10, #11] Salaries for on-site lunar crew, rover operators, life-support technicians and Earth-side mission controllers/analysts (includes hazard/secrecy premiums).
Intelligence And Liaison $3.0M/yr
[#21] Liaison, procurement via proxies, front company operations and contractor management with space agencies and industry.
Supplies And Consumables $2.5M/yr
[#6, #9, #13, #15] Sensor replacements/spares, suit consumables/sterilization, instrument consumables/calibration, quarantine consumables and disposables.
Cover Story And Legal $2.5M/yr
[#20, #22] Image editing, media takedowns, legal actions, and diplomatic contingency funding for information containment.
Emergency Rescue Annual $2.0M/yr
[#18] Readiness and maintenance fees, periodic vehicle checks and reserved launch/crew readiness reimbursements.
Contingency Replenishment $2.0M/yr
[#25] Ongoing replenishment of anomalous contingency fund for rapid experimental or emergency procurements.
Research And Monitoring $1.5M/yr
[#12, #23, #27] Research staff projects, anthropological/folklore consultants, long-term archival storage, cultural/ethical oversight.
Power Generation Annual $1.0M/yr
[#3] Maintenance, replacement battery reserves, occasional servicing for solar/battery/RTG support.
Sensor Package Annual $1.0M/yr
[#4] Telemetry bandwidth, node maintenance, remote calibration and occasional replacement of sensor elements.
Bsl4 Operations $1.0M/yr
[#14] Operational cost for BSL-4 lab handling anomalous samples, transport chain biosecurity and quarantine analysis.
Security And Cyber $1.0M/yr
[#19] On-site security systems, intrusion detection, and cyber defenses for comms and data.
Admin Overhead $1.0M/yr
[#26] Accounting, program management, insurance-like administrative overhead.
Tethered Spares Annual $500K/yr
[#5] Spares and resupply allowance for tethered nodes, grapples, anchors, and replacement sensors.
Training And Readiness $500K/yr
[#24] EVA, rover operations, simulator time and periodic readiness exercises.
⚡ Cost Scenarios
📊 Baseline (baseline) $54.5M/yr
89.0% probability / year
Normal operational year with Outpost Thoth-1 active, uncrewed weekly rover visits, routine maintenance and scheduled resupply.
routine_operations scheduled_resupply no anomalous escalation
🚨 Minor Incident $59.5M/yr
10.0% probability / year +$5.0M vs baseline
Loss or damage of multiple sensor nodes and a required recovery/resupply mission plus extra PR/legal work.
sensor_loss minor_anomalous_displacement targeted_media_exposure
🚨 Major Breach $219.5M/yr
1.0% probability / year +$165.0M vs baseline
Significant anomalous escalation requiring emergency rescue/resupply launches, large equipment replacement, surge research and major cover operations.
crew_endangerment large_scale_equipment_loss public_detection
👥 Personnel 20 total
Role Count Notes
Research Scientist 4 Scientists conducting interviews, analysis, and remote experiment planning; included in staff_wages [#12].
Mission Controller / Remote Ops 6 Earth-side operators and image analysts running rover missions and 24/7 telemetry monitoring; included in staff_wages [#11].
Engineer / Maintenance 4 Life-support, rover and sensor technicians for lunar and ground systems; included in staff_wages [#10].
Security Officer / MTF Agent 3 On-site security and access control (lunar and ground); included in staff_wages [#10, #19].
Site Director / Executive Staff 1 Program lead and decision authority for Outpost Thoth-1 operations; included in staff_wages [#10].
Medical Officer 1 Medical monitoring and quarantine oversight for returning personnel; included in staff_wages [#15].
Administrative Staff 1 Program administration, logistics coordination and liaison duties; included in staff_wages [#26].
📋 Confidence Notes
Ranges in the analyst notes are wide and many costs depend on policy choices (crewed vs uncrewed traversal, use of dedicated satellites/RTGs, frequency of launches). Estimates are mid-range choices based on the provided ranges and the assumption that Outpost Thoth-1 is already operational.
← SCP-2684 ↑ All SCPs SCP-2687 →