SCP-4320 — SCP-4320 | Cost Breakdown

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SCP-4320 Unknown ? low confidence

SCP-4320

Expected annual

$1.8B

One-time setup

$22.5B

Annual recurring

$1.7B

Personnel

184

Initial capital buildout dominated by deep-space mission hardware, orbital/station construction, and major covert acquisitions (~$22.5B one-time). Annual operations dominated by deep-space crewed/robotic program operations, global surveillance of SCP-4320-2, and contingency/cover operations (~$1.74B/yr).

🏗️ One-Time Capital Costs Total: $22.5B

Crewed Program Setup $6.0B

[#11] One-time setup for sustained crewed deep-space capability: habitats, heavy-lift, life support systems.

Contingency Reserve $5.2B

[#34] 30% contingency applied to total capital projects (inflation/overrun/reserve).

Orbital Station $3.5B

[#13] Dedicated forward/staging orbital station construction and outfitting.

Launch Campaign $3.0B

[#24] Heavy-lift launch procurement for initial probe/habitat/resupply campaign (10–30 launches campaign estimate).

Robotic Probe Program $1.9B

[#10] R&D, build and launch costs for an initial robotic probe campaign (approx. 3 missions assumed over decade).

Asset Acquisitions $1.1B

[#23] One-time strategic acquisitions / covert financing of private space companies and contractors.

Crisis Containment Fund $300.0M

[#22] One-time emergency/reserve fund for large incidents; initial capitalized amount.

Autonomous Robotics Program $275.0M

[#15] R&D and initial deployment of long-lived maintenance/repair robotics and rovers.

Power Generation $275.0M

[#18] Long-duration RTG/solar/reactor procurement and launch integration for stations/probes.

Planetary Defense Reserve $255.0M

[#31] One-time reserve for modeling, contingency planning and initial defense posture preparations.

Relay Network $175.0M

[#12] High-gain antennas / relay satellite mesh procurement.

Initial Research And Lab Setup $123.5M

[#2, #16] Whole-genome sequencing campaign and bioinformatics pipelines for ~20,000 samples + initial anomalous temporal/spatial research lab buildout and test rigs.

Diplomatic Buyouts $105.0M

[#8] One-time buyouts/agreements with agencies and private launch providers to restrict/shape off-world travel.

Drones Research $105.0M

[#30] Long-duration R&D and spare-part fabrication program to interface with maintenance drones on SCP-4320-1.

Coverup Contingency $100.0M

[#7] Procedure 4320-Apollo contingency reserve (one-time set-aside component of influence fund).

Containment Facilities $55.0M

[#17] Secure sample containment facilities with temporal/BSL-4 equivalents.

Training Facilities $27.5M

[#26] Specialized simulator and training facility setup for anomalous/spatial-temporal mission rehearsals.

Ppe And Recovery $10.5M

[#14] Development and procurement of specialized environmental suits, decontamination modules and recovery rigs.

Safehouse Refurbishment $10.0M

[#6] Refurbishment/initial setup of secure safehouses for relocation and recruit placement.

Secure It Infrastructure $6.0M

[#1] Air-gapped high-security servers, encrypted analyst workstations, backups and classification tooling (setup).

Archival Storage $5.5M

[#27] High-security archival and tamper-evident evidence storage buildout.

Goi Negotiation $5.2M

[#29] One-time costs for high-profile clandestine negotiations or swaps with Groups of Interest.

Recruitment Onboarding $5.0M

[#20] One-time recruiting/onboarding/signing bonus pool for targeted SCP-4320-2 hires (initial phase).

Mtf Vehicles Equipment $3.0M

[#5] Armored vans, helicopters, small surveillance aircraft, covert vehicles and related procurement.

Telemetry Censorship Tooling $3.0M

[#9] One-time tooling and infrastructure to intercept/modify telemetry/astronomical data.

Facilities $0

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Equipment $0

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🔄 Annual Recurring Costs Total: $1.7B/yr

Crewed Program Ops $750.0M/yr

[#11] Annual operations cost for sustained crewed deep-space program (life support, resupply, mission ops).

Contingency Multiplier $401.3M/yr

[#34] 30% annual contingency/inflation/reserve applied to recurring program budget (midpoint of 20–40%).

Orbital Operations $200.0M/yr

[#13] Annual station operations, resupply cadence and personnel for forward staging station.

Surveillance And Monitoring $88.3M/yr

[#3] Global covert monitoring program for known SCP-4320-2 (~8,827 known) at ~$10k/person/yr average (tiered program).

Cover Story And Legal $55.0M/yr

[#7, #28] Annual legal retainers, influence/PR campaigns, front-org budgets and covert payments; combined Apollo program + cover programs.

Launch Ops $50.0M/yr

[#24] Ongoing launcher readiness, propellant procurement and cadence costs (per-year average).

Crisis Replenishment $30.0M/yr

[#22] Annual replenishment target for the crisis response/incident containment fund.

Robotics Support $27.5M/yr

[#15] Ongoing support, repairs and replacement for autonomous maintenance/robotic platforms.

Staff Wages $26.5M/yr

[#4, #19] Salaries for standing MTF (partial) and core research staff/analysts (MTF salaries and research specialists).

Safehouses And Relocation $17.5M/yr

[#6] Annual costs for relocation stipends, witness-protection style maintenance and long-term housing throughput.

Relay Operations $17.5M/yr

[#12] Ops and maintenance for high-gain antenna/relay mesh.

Power Operations $12.5M/yr

[#18] Operations and fueling/maintenance for long-term power systems (RTG/arrays/reactor upkeep).

Goi Coordination $10.5M/yr

[#29] Annual costs for clandestine negotiations/monitoring with Groups of Interest.

Recruitment Program Cost $10.0M/yr

[#20] Ongoing recruitment/signing bonuses and integration costs for targeted SCP-4320-2 hires.

Telemetry Monitoring $6.0M/yr

[#9] Ongoing team and infrastructure costs to monitor/intercept/modify agency telemetry and academic data.

Diplomatic Relations $5.5M/yr

[#8] Ongoing relationship/maintenance costs with international agencies and launch providers.

Drones Program Support $5.0M/yr

[#30] Ongoing R&D and parts fabrication to maintain/interact with SCP-4320-1 maintenance drones.

Planetary Defense Ops $5.0M/yr

[#31] Ongoing modeling, simulations and coordination costs for planetary defense contingency planning.

Audit And Oversight $5.0M/yr

[#33] Annual auditing, oversight and long-term archival staffing to prevent leaks/mismanagement.

Containment Maintenance $3.0M/yr

[#17] Maintenance and staff costs for secure sample containment/quarantine facilities.

Personnel Medical $3.0M/yr

[#25] Dedicated medical, psychological care, debriefing and rehabilitation teams' annual cost.

Training Ops $3.0M/yr

[#26] Annual operations for simulators and training regimen for MTF/astronauts in anomalous conditions.

D Class Support $1.8M/yr

[#21] Annual housing, security and turnover costs for long-term D-Class personnel (5 long-term currently).

Secure It Operations $1.2M/yr

[#1] Ongoing secure IT operations, monitoring, backups and analyst workstation maintenance.

Ppe Replacement $1.2M/yr

[#14] Replacement and consumables for specialized PPE and decon modules.

Gag Indemnities $1.2M/yr

[#32] Annual indemnity payments, legal fees and monitoring for secrecy agreements and contractors.

Mtf Vehicle Maintenance $750K/yr

[#5] Annual maintenance and spare parts for MTF vehicles and aircraft.

Archival Maintenance $600K/yr

[#27] Annual storage maintenance and evidence handling costs.

Facilities Maintenance $0/yr

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Supplies And Consumables $0/yr

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Research And Monitoring $0/yr

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Logistics And Transport $0/yr

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⚡ Cost Scenarios

📊 Baseline (baseline) $1.7B/yr

80.0% probability / year

Normal operational year with planned missions/maintenance and no major incidents.

no major breaches routine mission cadence steady recruitment and surveillance

🚨 Minor Incident $1.8B/yr

12.0% probability / year +$50.0M vs baseline

Localized exposure/leak requiring emergency redeployment, PR/legal response and rapid containment.

small public exposure limited breach at a site

🚨 Major Breach $2.2B/yr

6.0% probability / year +$500.0M vs baseline

Significant containment failure or large-scale exposure requiring wide crisis response, replenishment of contingency and emergency missions.

major public incident loss of personnel or assets multi-site breach

🚨 Exploration Acceleration $2.4B/yr

2.0% probability / year +$650.0M vs baseline

Decision or requirement to accelerate exploration (e.g., add an unexpected robotic mission or a crewed sortie) in-year.

new discovery requiring immediate follow-up strategic push for in-situ investigation

👥 Personnel 184 total

Role	Count	Notes
Security Officer / MTF Agent	75	[#4] Standing Mobile Task Force (Pi-32) personnel for recruitment/apprehension and covert operations.
Research Scientist	50	[#19, #16] Astrophysicists, temporal physicists, xenoarchaeologists and computational modelers funded in recurring research salaries.
Site Staff	19	[Supplementary article figures] Foundation-employed site staff drawn from SCP-4320-2 cohort (site operations/support).
Class-D Personnel	5	[#21] Long-term D-Class maintained by the Foundation; mission D-Class are additional as-needed.
Engineer / Maintenance	20	[#12, #15, #18, #30] Engineers and technicians to build/operate probes, stations, power and robotics programs.
Medical Officer	5	[#25] Specialized medical and psychological staff for anomalous exposure, rehabilitation and mission care.
Administrative Staff	10	[#33, #7, #32] Project administration, legal liaisons, audit and cover operations support.

📋 Confidence Notes

Estimates use midpoint assumptions from wide analyst ranges and a high number of uncertain, anomalous, and geopolitical cost drivers (deep-space missions, covert influence, and temporal-anomalous research). Many items (mission counts, acquisitions, contingency sizing) are policy-dependent and subject to large overruns; hence low confidence.

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