SCP-6555 — SCP-6555 | Cost Breakdown

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SCP-6555 Safe ~ medium confidence

SCP-6555

Expected annual

$41.3M

One-time setup

$4.0B

Annual recurring

$10.4M

Personnel

One-time capital costs are dominated by potential space missions and reserves (~$3.95B total). Recurring annual costs are modest in comparison (~$10.4M/yr), driven primarily by remote monitoring, mission operations staffing, and scientific research support.

🏗️ One-Time Capital Costs Total: $4.0B

Sample Return Mission $2.0B

[#4] Full sample-return mission (ascent, Earth-return capsule, planetary protection, recovery).

Soft Lander $800.0M

[#3] Soft-lander / in-situ robotic explorer (descent systems, mobility, comms, radiation-hardening).

Reconnaissance Probe $400.0M

[#2] One-off reconnaissance flyby mission (spacecraft bus, payload, launch, mission design).

Mission Contingency Reserve $300.0M

[#13] Contingency / risk reserve for mission overruns and anomalies (program-level contingency reserve).

Relay Satellite $200.0M

[#5] Dedicated deep-space relay/communications satellite (design and launch).

Strategic Reserve $200.0M

[#26] Opportunity-cost / standing strategic reserve to respond to escalations (recommended standing reserve).

Initial Research And Lab Setup $23.0M

[#8, #9, #15, #20] Cleanroom/curation lab buildout, specialized analytical instrumentation purchases, planetary-protection facility measures and initial R&D/dev for specialized instruments.

Insurance And Legal One Time $10.0M

[#14] One-time launch/mission insurance and compliance/legal setup costs.

Spares Inventory One Time $5.0M

[#19] Initial spare-parts procurement for long-duration missions.

Decommissioning And End Of Life $5.0M

[#25] Long-term decommissioning / end-of-life disposal costs (planning/reserve).

Facilities $4.0M

[#8, #11, #16] Structural/ground infrastructure work: lab build/site upgrades and security-related physical upgrades (lab buildout referenced elsewhere is accounted under research/lab setup; this entry covers facility-level ground/antenna and security upgrades).

Propellant And In Space Consumables One Time $2.0M

[#12] Propellant and in-space consumables for mission phases (one-time mission-phase fuel budgets).

Recovery Operations Per Event One Time $1.5M

[#21] Per-event capsule recovery and secure transport (one-off recovery event cost).

Equipment $1.3M

[#10, #17] Hardware and installed systems: secure storage cabinets/cryofreezers and IT infrastructure for secure data handling.

Pr And Cover Story One Time $200K

[#22] One-time initial public-relations / cover-story plan development.

🔄 Annual Recurring Costs Total: $10.4M/yr

Staff Wages $5.1M/yr

[#6, #7, #16] Mission operations staff (engineers/ops/analysts), scientific research team salaries, and recurring security staffing.

Research And Monitoring $3.0M/yr

[#1, #11, #17, #18, #20] Dedicated DSN/telescope time and data reduction, ground bandwidth leases and upgrades ops, secure data curation/cybersecurity, continuous signal analysis, and recurring R&D program support.

Supplies And Consumables $850K/yr

[#9, #12, #15, #19] Laboratory consumables and reagents, in-space consumables/propellant top-ups, planetary-protection consumables, and spare-part replenishment.

Facilities Maintenance $750K/yr

[#8, #10, #24] Maintenance and utilities for curation labs/storage (cleanroom upkeep, cryo support, HVAC, and facility power/monitoring).

Cover Story And Legal $500K/yr

[#14, #22] Recurring legal counsel, media monitoring, and cover-story / PR ongoing costs.

Logistics And Transport $200K/yr

[#21, #23] Personnel travel, training rotation costs and logistics; per-event recovery is one-time but travel and small standby logistics recur.

⚡ Cost Scenarios

📊 Baseline (baseline) $10.4M/yr

95.8% probability / year

Ongoing monitoring and analysis with no major mission deployments; routine operations only.

regular_remote_monitoring no_new_missions

🚨 Flyby Mission $530.4M/yr

3.0% probability / year +$520.0M vs baseline

Approve and launch a reconnaissance flyby probe to XEO 8537-A (reconnaissance mission expenses incurred).

decision_to_launch_recon_probe availability_of_launch_window

🚨 Soft Lander Mission $1.0B/yr

1.0% probability / year +$1.0B vs baseline

Deploy a soft-lander/in-situ explorer to enter SCP-6555 and perform close-up characterization.

approval_of_in-situ_exploration suitable_mission_window

🚨 Sample Return Mission $2.5B/yr

0.2% probability / year +$2.5B vs baseline

Full sample-return campaign with ascent and Earth reentry/recovery of anomalous materials.

decision_to_return_samples successful_sample_collection

👥 Personnel 45 total

Role	Count	Notes
Mission Operations / Flight Controllers	25	[#6] Engineers, ops leads and controllers (24/7 mission operations staffing reflected in mission ops recurring wages).
Research Scientist	12	[#7] Astrobiologists, planetary scientists, materials scientists and analysts.
Security Officer / MTF Agent	8	[#16] Recurring security staffing for secure facilities and sample handling.

📋 Confidence Notes

Estimates mapped from analyst notes with mid-range selections; mission one-time costs have very wide bounds and timing uncertainty, while recurring operational costs are better constrained by staffing and monitoring needs.

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