← SCP Cost Explorer Read on SCP Wiki ↗
SCP-3841 Safe ? low confidence
SCP-3841
Expected annual
$2.3B
One-time setup
$18.0B
Annual recurring
$102.6M
Personnel
72
One-time capital costs are large (dominated by interstellar mission hardware, probes, and sample-return capability) totaling roughly $18B in this baseline package; recurring operations (ground comms, data processing, staffing, PR/legal/cover operations) run ~ $103M/year. Occasional high-impact events (major public discovery or requirement to develop starship capability from scratch) can push single-year spending into the tens-to-hundreds of billions.
🏗️ One-Time Capital Costs Total: $18.0B
Sample Retrieval Missions $5.0B
[#7] Optional but plausible sample-return missions; baseline includes one moderately sized retrieval mission (~$5B).
Surface Probes $3.5B
[#3] Hardened surface probes/landers/penetrators; assumed ~7 landers at midpoint unit cost (~$500M each).
Launch Deployment Operations $3.2B
[#4] Mission planning, mid-course corrections, cruise maintenance and probe deployment; midpoint of 0.5B–6B used for baseline deployment operations.
Interstellar Mission Platform $2.8B
[#1] Marginal mission-tasking / fuel / consumables assuming Foundation already has interstellar-capable vessels ($0.5B–$5B). Baseline assumes existing capability -> marginal mission cost used.
Monitoring Satellites $2.5B
[#2] Four hardened long-duration orbiters with instruments. Per-orbiter midpoint applied (~$625M each).
Deep Space Comm Upgrades $550.0M
[#5] Initial high-bandwidth lasercom / relay upgrades and DSN-scale ground facilities; midpoint of $100M–$1B used for initial capital.
Contingency Reserve Initial $255.0M
[#18] Initial contingency / emergency-response fund reserved for large-scale public discovery responses; midpoint of $10M–$500M range used.
Facilities $58.0M
[#8, #20, #22] Buildout of secure anomalous-object/memetic containment facility ($5M–$50M), initial hardened sample storage/quarantine ($1M–$10M) and decommissioning/mothballing reserve estimates ($1M–$50M). Combined midpoint estimate used.
Legal One Time Reserve $50.0M
[#15] One-time legal/contingency reserve for covert payments / initial diplomatic engagement; smaller reserve component of item 15.
Initial Ingest Processing $27.5M
[#6] Initial ingest/processing/archival system for telemetry (memetic screening, data pipelines); midpoint of $5M–$50M used.
Initial Research And Lab Setup $16.0M
[#9] Initial R&D and instrumentation for testing indestructible materials, particle-beam diagnostics, cryo/thermal systems and robotics. Midpoint of provided range used.
Cybersecurity Software Initial $2.8M
[#16] Initial memetic-filtering and secure-censorship tooling ($0.5M–$5M); midpoint used.
Equipment $0
[]
🔄 Annual Recurring Costs Total: $102.6M/yr
Deep Space Comm Ops $27.5M/yr
[#5] Annual operations cost for long-duration interstellar communications and relay node operation ($5M–$50M); midpoint applied.
Research And Monitoring $20.5M/yr
[#6, #9, #19, #2] Continuous telemetry/data processing, onboard prefiltering, instrument ops for satellites/landers, ongoing R&D maintenance and long-term environmental modelling; combined midpoints used.
Cover Story And Legal $18.9M/yr
[#13, #14, #15, #21] Foundation-run journals, PR/misinformation operations, ongoing legal/diplomatic costs, insurance/audit and oversight; midpoints of ranges aggregated.
Staff Wages $14.3M/yr
[#10] Salaries for mission scientists, operators, engineers, memetic specialists, security and support staff; midpoint of provided FTE/salary ranges.
Facilities Maintenance $7.1M/yr
[#8, #20] Ongoing maintenance, security and utilities for anomalous containment facility and sample storage operations; includes midpoint operations estimates.
Contingency Topup $5.0M/yr
[#18] Annual top-up to emergency / contingency reserve for discovery responses.
Logistics And Transport $2.8M/yr
[#17] Planetary-protection / quarantine monitoring and small intercept/monitoring logistics; midpoint of monitoring budget applied.
Cognitive Clinical Support $2.8M/yr
[#11] Clinical support, long-term care budgets and screening/rehab for personnel exposed to cognitohazards; midpoint used.
Amnesticization Program $2.8M/yr
[#12] Ongoing amnesticization program and field-team readiness for routine cases; midpoint of $0.5M–$5M.
Cybersecurity Software Maintenance $1.1M/yr
[#16] Annual maintenance and updates for memetic-filtering and censorship tooling; midpoint of $0.2M–$2M.
Supplies And Consumables $0/yr
[]
⚡ Cost Scenarios
📊 Baseline (baseline) $102.6M/yr
85.0% probability / year
Normal year with routine monitoring, data-processing, maintenance, and no major public exposures or development needs.
no_public_discovery no_major_mission_development routine_operations
🚨 Minor Incident $103.6M/yr
10.0% probability / year +$1.0M vs baseline
Localized discovery by civilian researcher requiring targeted amnesticization, PR/legal response and limited medical follow-up.
small_public_disclosure targeted_amnestization limited_legal_action
🚨 Major Incident $152.6M/yr
3.0% probability / year +$50.0M vs baseline
High-profile public discovery or major leak requiring mass amnesticization, emergency retrieval/interception, large PR/legal operations and clinical care.
high_profile_publication multiple_civilian_teams large_scale_amnesticization
🚨 Develop Starship Capability $110.1B/yr
2.0% probability / year +$110.0B vs baseline
Foundation lacks suitable interstellar vessels and must fund full R&D/capital development of starship-grade propulsion and systems.
no_existing_interstellar_assets strategic_decision_to_field_own_vessels
👥 Personnel 72 total
Role Count Notes
Research Scientist 20 [#10] Planetary scientists, astrophysicists and material scientists for ongoing analysis.
Mission Operations / Flight Engineers 12 [#10] Mission planning, navigation, flight engineering and probe operations staff.
Robotics / Engineers 10 [#10] Roboticists and mechanical/electrical engineers for landers, probes and test rigs.
Data Analysts / Archivists 8 [#6, #2] Telemetry ingestion, memetic screening, data curation and long-term archival operations.
Security Officer / MTF Agent 8 [#10] On-site and rapid-response security for containment and personnel protection.
Memetic Specialist / Psychologist 6 [#11, #8] Specialists for memetic screening, clinical support and containment protocols.
Administrative Staff 4 [#10, #13] Program administration, publication operations and cover-story management support.
Medical Officer 3 [#11] Medical staff for acute and long-term care of exposed personnel.
Site Director / Executive Staff 1 [#10, #21] Program leadership, oversight and liaison with Foundation administration.
📋 Confidence Notes
Cost ranges in original notes are broad and dependent on strategic choices (whether Foundation already has interstellar assets, whether sample-return missions proceed, and unpredictable public-discovery events). Many estimates are high-uncertainty extrapolations of future/interstellar technology and contingent events, so overall confidence is low.
← SCP-3840 ↑ All SCPs SCP-3842 →