SCP-5111 — SCP-5111 | Cost Breakdown

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SCP-5111 Neutralized ~ medium confidence

SCP-5111

Expected annual

$5.3M

One-time setup

$60.7M

Annual recurring

$5.0M

Personnel

One-time capital and mission costs (facility construction, high-end instrumentation, and possible space-mission expenditures) dominate the program budget (~$60.7M). Recurring annual costs (~$4.95M/yr) are driven by staff wages, continuous monitoring/processing, data storage, cybersecurity, and contingency overhead.

🏗️ One-Time Capital Costs Total: $60.7M

Actual Space Mission Costs $50.0M

[#23] Representative budget for possible small survey satellite / flagship mission; included for completeness though such missions are likely infeasible for containment budgets.

Facilities $5.5M

[#4, #25] Construction of a dedicated receiving station (site prep, dishes, RFI mitigation) and site purchase/long-term lease costs (chosen midpoint: small facility + land).

Space Mission Concept Studies $2.0M

[#22] Multi-institution feasibility/architecture studies for any active mission concepts (no construction/launch).

Equipment $1.0M

[#5, #6] High-speed digitizers/backend hardware and on-site storage array/tape/archive hardware purchase.

Software Development $600K

[#7] One-time custom detection pipeline and ML/tooling development costs.

Personnel Turnover Severance $300K

[#27] Severance and contract buyouts if program is wound down (one-time reserve).

Classified Archive Setup $200K

[#17] Secure long-term archival infrastructure initial setup and off-site vaulting.

Decommissioning And Neutralization Confirmation $200K

[#18] Costs to verify neutralization, dismantle equipment, sanitize networks, and severance for temporary staff if required.

Archive Suppression Legal Settlements $200K

[#29] Contingent one-time legal settlements/takedown/remediation budget in case of leaks.

Cover Program Setup $200K

[#15] One-time costs for initiating active cover programs / legal containment of leaks.

Cybersecurity Hardening $175K

[#11] Initial network hardening, encrypted archives setup, and penetration testing.

Initial Verification Followup $150K

[#1] Rapid-response telescope time, staff overtime, and travel for immediate verification (24–72 hr observation blocks).

Physical Security Installation $100K

[#10] One-time fencing/access control/CCTV/secure-room installation costs.

Legal Initial Setup $75K

[#16] Initial legal retainer/setup fees separate from recurring legal costs.

Initial Research And Lab Setup $0

[]

🔄 Annual Recurring Costs Total: $5.0M/yr

Staff Wages $1.6M/yr

[#8, #9] Salaries for scientific staff (astronomers, cryptographers), signal analysts, data scientists, RF engineers, sysadmin and project leads (permanent + contracted personnel).

Contingency Overhead $646K/yr

[#19] Program management overhead and contingency (estimated at 15% of annual operating costs).

Research And Monitoring $600K/yr

[#3, #21] Ongoing scheduled telescope time (intermittent to full coverage) and long-range research/theory grants and modeling programs.

Facilities Maintenance $350K/yr

[#10, #12, #25] Guard contracts/upkeep, power/cooling/utilities for dishes and racks, and lease/onsite facility maintenance.

Emergency Response Fund $300K/yr

[#20] Reserve fund for rapid telescope allocation, external consulting, and surge operations if transmissions change character.

Short Term Emergency Operations $250K/yr

[#2] Temporary surge staffing, extra data capture, and near-term analysis during post-discovery activity (weeks-long surges averaged annually).

Cover Story And Legal $225K/yr

[#15, #16] PR contractor, cover-story coordination and recurring legal retainer/insurance premiums.

Data Storage Maintenance $200K/yr

[#6] Recurring storage/hosting, backups, and network bandwidth costs for high-rate radio data retention.

Supplies And Consumables $150K/yr

[#13] Replacement receivers, low-noise amplifiers, cabling, lubricants, spares and preventive maintenance consumables.

Cybersecurity Operations $150K/yr

[#11] Ongoing SOC services, licensing, intrusion detection, audits and periodic penetration testing.

Collaborations And Cost Sharing $150K/yr

[#24] Payments/funding to partner observatories for prioritized time, secondments, and data rights.

Software Maintenance $75K/yr

[#7] Ongoing updates, bug fixes and third-party license fees for detection pipelines and analysis tools.

Logistics And Transport $50K/yr

[#26] Travel for interagency meetings, on-site maintenance crews, instrument shipping, and urgent specialist dispatch.

Classified Archive Maintenance $50K/yr

[#17] Ongoing secure archival operations and integrity checks.

Personnel Hiring And Training $50K/yr

[#27] Annual hiring, retraining and professional development costs.

International Coordination $50K/yr

[#14] ITU filings, frequency coordination, export controls and liaison travel/legal compliance.

Ethical Oversight $30K/yr

[#28] Independent review boards, external consultants, and public safety assessments.

Public Data Release Management $25K/yr

[#30] Staff time and curation costs to prepare sanitized public releases if appropriate.

⚡ Cost Scenarios

📊 Baseline (baseline) $5.0M/yr

85.0% probability / year

Normal year with ongoing monitoring, staff salaries, storage, cybersecurity, and contingency; no major incidents or capital projects.

routine_monitoring no_major_incident

🚨 Minor Incident $5.5M/yr

12.0% probability / year +$500K vs baseline

Localized event (e.g., regional EMP-like pulse or sudden transmission change) requiring emergency response, additional telescope time and external consultants.

localized_emp_event unexpected_transmission_character_change

🚨 Research Scale Up $13.5M/yr

3.0% probability / year +$8.5M vs baseline

Decision to build/activate a dedicated receiving facility and undertake major mission studies/launch prep in response to new evidence (capital-intensive year).

sustained_high_priority_transmissions policy_directive_for_active_investigation

👥 Personnel 13 total

Role	Count	Notes
Research Scientist	2	[#8] Senior/junior astronomers/cryptographers responsible for analysis and oversight.
Signal Analyst / Data Scientist	4	[#8] Data scientists and signal analysts for pipeline review and vetting.
System Administrator / IT Specialist	1	[#8, #11] Manages compute, storage, and classified networks.
RF Engineer / Technician	3	[#9] Telescope operators, RF engineers and electronics technicians for uptime and repairs.
Project Manager / Program Administrator	1	[#19] Administrative oversight, program management and liaison duties.
Contract Researchers / Short-term Contractors	2	[#8, #21] Visiting scientists and contract specialists supporting research and surge analyses.

📋 Confidence Notes

Estimates are mid-range point selections from wide analyst ranges; many costs (facility scale, mission choices, frequency of surges) are uncertain, but the recurring operational elements are reasonably well-understood.

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