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SCP-3272 Unknown ~ medium confidence
SCP-3272
Expected annual
$30.0M
One-time setup
$352.7M
Annual recurring
$24.8M
Personnel
68
One-time establishment costs are dominated by a dedicated high-security lab and optional intercept/capture R&D; baseline recurring costs (~$25M/year) are driven by embedded intelligence, observatory access, SSA feeds, research, and rapid-response readiness.
🏗️ One-Time Capital Costs Total: $352.7M
Intercept Development $300.0M
[#12] Prototype capture/spacecraft development and launch R&D (high-end program cost; optional but included as a one-time development estimate).
Facilities $25.3M
[#8, #21] One-time construction/lease and physical security installation for a BSL-3/4-capable containment and storage facility (estimated mid-range buildout plus security systems).
Crisis Fund $20.0M
[#15] Seed for a contingency fund reserved for lawsuits/whistleblower payouts/major undisclosed liabilities (one-time capitalization).
Initial Research And Lab Setup $2.5M
[#8, #11, #23] Laboratory instrumentation, autopsy suite outfitting, initial high-fidelity modeling/compute cluster hardware and specialized scientific instruments for research start-up.
Media Crisis Budget $2.0M
[#14] One-time crisis PR/media buy budget for a major public incident.
Equipment $600K
[#24] Initial procurement of field equipment (drones, magnetometers, portable cold boxes, GPR) and non-lab gear purchased once.
Communications Setup $600K
[#19] Secure communications and encrypted systems initial procurement and setup (satellite phones, comms hardware, secure servers).
Environmental Cleanup Per Event $500K
[#22] One-time environmental cleanup/responses for a moderate debris/shoreline event (per-event budget placeholder).
Ssa Integration $200K
[#4] One-time integration and systems work to accept commercial/classified SSA feeds into Foundation systems.
Armored Vehicles $200K
[#7] Purchase of a small fleet of armored vans/transport vehicles for secure specimen transfer.
Legal One Time Payouts $200K
[#13] One-time payouts/bribes/large incident-specific legal payments (per-incident reserve estimate; additional incident budgets handled in scenarios).
Cyber Incident Mitigation $200K
[#16] One-time digital forensics/suppression engagement for a given incident.
Specimen Initial Handling $150K
[#9] Initial per-specimen handling/processing for an assumed small number of first-year recoveries (3 specimens x ~$50k each assumed).
Archive Setup $125K
[#25] Secure archive and redaction system initial setup costs.
Decontamination Event $100K
[#18] One-time event-level decontamination and hazardous disposal costs for a medium-scale recovery.
🔄 Annual Recurring Costs Total: $24.8M/yr
Embedded Agents $3.5M/yr
[#2] Salaries, cover pay, relocation, false credentials and ongoing tradecraft support for ~20 embedded agents in space agencies/observatories.
Facility Operations $3.0M/yr
[#8] Operating expenses for a high-security BSL-3/4 facility (utilities, security staffing, certifications, waste handling).
Specialized Research $3.0M/yr
[#11] Salaries, grad/postdoc support, consumables and amortized instrumentation for orbital dynamics/astrobiology/forensics program.
Ssa Subscriptions $2.8M/yr
[#4] Ongoing SSA data subscriptions, commercial feeds, and classified access fees.
Legal And Diplomacy $2.0M/yr
[#13] Ongoing legal counsel, diplomatic liaison, NDA drafting and routine cover-up engagement costs.
Staff Wages $1.9M/yr
[#1] Salaries/benefits for a 10–15 person dedicated containment & coordination team (program director, planners, legal officer, logistics).
Rapid Response Teams $1.8M/yr
[#6] Standby capability and multiple deployment costs for air/sea/land recovery teams (charters, crews, equipment amortization).
Observatory Access $1.2M/yr
[#3] Regular telescope time / adaptive-optics access and multi-year arrangements for high-resolution imaging.
Cyber Ops $1.1M/yr
[#16] Ongoing cyber/records suppression, forensics team salaries and monitoring; per-incident mitigation budget reserved separately.
Physical Security $900K/yr
[#21] On-site guard contracts, CCTV maintenance, access control and background checks for secure labs/storage.
Amateur Monitoring $725K/yr
[#5] Social-media scraping, analyst moderation, stipends/grants to trusted amateur astronomers, and tip handling.
Media Management $500K/yr
[#14] PR retainer, routine media buys and social remediation to manage public attention.
Public Outreach $500K/yr
[#20] Funding benign astronomy projects, scholarships and cover programs to absorb attention.
Legal Retainer $350K/yr
[#15] Annual legal retainer and smaller predictable legal insurance costs.
Training $300K/yr
[#17] Regular readiness drills, travel, and simulated recoveries for teams and embedded agents.
Communications Ops $300K/yr
[#19] Secure comms operations, encrypted links, licenses and satellite airtime.
Compute Operations $250K/yr
[#23] Ongoing compute, modeling licenses, and cluster maintenance for continuous trajectory modeling.
Archival $250K/yr
[#25] Secure archival operations, off-site backups, and redaction/audit staffing.
Forensic Testing $150K/yr
[#10] Routine per-specimen forensic/autopsy/testing budget (assumes ~3 specimens/year at mid-range $50k each).
Misc Procurement $125K/yr
[#24] Annual replacement/consumables for field equipment (drones, batteries, portable cold boxes).
Armored Logistics $100K/yr
[#7] Operations, maintenance and courier costs for secure transport and armored vehicles.
Consumables And Disposal $50K/yr
[#18] PPE, disinfectants, hazardous waste removal baseline costs (per-event surges budgeted in incident scenarios).
Specimen Storage $15K/yr
[#9] Ongoing secure cold-chain storage and monitoring for an assumed small number of specimens (~3/year at $1–5k each).
Intercept Missions $0/yr
[#12] Per-mission launch/intercept costs are mission-specific; baseline assumes no regular intercept launches (handled in scenarios).
Environmental Monitoring $0/yr
[]
⚡ Cost Scenarios
📊 Baseline (baseline) $24.8M/yr
81.5% probability / year
Normal year with monitoring, research, and readiness but no major incidents or development spikes.
no_public_incident no_major_recovery_mission no_development_programs_started
🚨 Minor Incident $27.9M/yr
15.0% probability / year +$3.1M vs baseline
Localized/medium public incident (single visible reentry or debris field) requiring cleanup, PR response and legal/diplomatic actions.
publicized_debris_event moderate_media_attention localized_cleanup_and_legal_response
🚨 Major Recovery Mission $133.8M/yr
3.0% probability / year +$109.0M vs baseline
Program conducts an active intercept/recovery using launch resources or a large recovery operation following a notable reentry.
decision_to_intercept high-value_recovery international_diplomatic_response
🚨 Development Program $329.8M/yr
0.5% probability / year +$305.0M vs baseline
Decision-year to fund/accelerate full prototype capture satellite or dedicated intercept R&D (large one-time capital outlay).
strategic_decision_to_develop_capture capital_R&D_spend launch_and_integration
👥 Personnel 68 total
Role Count Notes
Containment & Coordination Staff 12 [#1] Program director, ops planners, case officers and logistics/legal coordinators (full-time team).
Embedded Agents 20 [#2] Fielded agents placed inside space agencies/observatories (covered in embedded_agents recurring cost).
Research Scientist 8 [#11] Orbital dynamics, astrobiology and forensic researchers (small research group).
Security Officer / MTF Agent 10 [#21] On-site armed guards and response security staff for labs and storage.
Rapid-Response Operators 8 [#6] Recovery team specialists (air/sea/land) maintained on roster/standby.
Cyber / IT Specialist 4 [#16, #19, #23] Cyber ops, secure communications and modeling/compute maintenance staff.
Lab Technician / Forensic Staff 4 [#8, #10] Forensic autopsy technicians and lab staff supporting specimen processing and testing.
Administrative Staff 2 [#1, #25] Administrative and records-management personnel supporting the program.
📋 Confidence Notes
Estimates draw directly from analyst ranges but many line items (intercept development, incident frequencies, number of recoveries) are highly variable; mid-range choices were used where ranges were wide.
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