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SCP-6823 Unknown ~ medium confidence
SCP-6823
Expected annual
$332.6M
One-time setup
$14.7B
Annual recurring
$151.0M
Personnel
140
Foundation will sustain a multi-million-dollar recurring program for monitoring, deception, communications and specialized MTF operations, plus multi‑billion one‑time capital expenditures to create hardened observatory/silo infrastructure, launch and satellite capability, and on-orbit intervention/tug assets. Civilian/national-scale mitigation (power-grid hardening, satellite-fleet replacement, sovereign stabilization reserves, humanitarian stockpiles) is outside Foundation operational spend and constitutes systemic economic impact if SCP-6823 approaches Earth. Attempts to physically redirect or destroy a 200+ Earth-mass object are effectively infeasible with available technology; those programs are therefore not budgeted as Foundation operational expenditures.
🏗️ One-Time Capital Costs Total: $14.7B
Equipment $11.9B
Breakdown (sum = $11,900,000,000): Newton-class protective/deployment satellites (design and manufacture) — 20 units @ $300,000,000 each = $6,000,000,000; Heavy-lift launch procurement (reserve launches to deploy satellites/tugs) — 20 launches @ $200,000,000 each = $4,000,000,000; On-orbit tugs (4 units @ $150,000,000) = $600,000,000; Deep-space comms / DSN-class transmitter and antenna upgrades = $250,000,000; Communications payloads / high-power beacons and encoding hardware = $50,000,000; on-orbit servicing hardware spares and ground support testbeds = $1,000,000,000. These equipment purchases are constrained to what the Foundation can realistically acquire or contract; they do not assume successful mitigation of a 200+ Earth-mass object, only deployment of Foundation protective/interference assets as described in Newton Procedures.
Facilities $2.5B
Breakdown (sum = $2,550,000,000): Primary Astronomical Site secure buildout and large-dish arrays: $350,000,000; Geomagnetic Protection Exclusion Zone (Point Zero) hardened site with rotating habitable modules and lead-infused shielding: $200,000,000; Newton-class silo network conversion (10 silo conversions @ $200M each): $2,000,000,000. These are capital construction/conversion costs the Foundation can execute. (See Rule 1: large one-time facility cost is itemized here.)
Initial Research And Lab Setup $250.0M
Includes high-performance computing cluster for orbital/EM/radiation simulation ($25,000,000), development & testing of Galileo signal interception/spoofing systems and hardened data-falsification pipelines ($25,000,000), on-orbit servicing integration and test campaigns ($100,000,000), and initial simulation campaigns and contracted specialist studies ($100,000,000). NOTE: The Foundation will NOT budget a program to develop means to redirect or destroy a 200+ Earth-mass object — such programs are effectively infeasible; per containment policy these are given estimate_usd = 0 (see system-level notes and Addendum on infeasibility below).
🔄 Annual Recurring Costs Total: $151.0M/yr
Cover Story And Legal $60.0M/yr
False Sky/ground-based observation management, diplomatic/legal liaison retainers for routine concealment efforts, limited covert payments and PR operations while concealment is feasible (~$60M/yr). NOTE (Rule 3): This line represents concealment while SCP-6823 remains in outward, non-threatening orbit. If SCP-6823 creates globally visible physical effects (major breach / near-Earth approach), concealment at scale becomes infeasible and cover_story_and_legal will be set to $0 for that scenario (see scenario notes).
Staff Wages $30.0M/yr
Salaries and benefits (loaded costs) for monitoring/astrometry team, data analysts, scientists and engineers, comms and satellite operations, MTF 'Jester's Tongue' operators, security, and supporting staff. Headcount breakdown in personnel section; aggregate annual payroll modeled at ~$30M/yr.
Logistics And Transport $25.0M/yr
Transport for entertainers (MTF movements), launch campaign logistics standby, tug mission reserves, emergency on-orbit sortie budgets averaged annually, and elevated transport for classified field teams (~$25M/yr). Per-event surge costs are budgeted into scenario planning rather than baseline recurring.
Facilities Maintenance $20.0M/yr
Power, utilities, routine repairs, physical security, and small capital replacement at the Primary Astronomical Site and the GPEZ site (~$20M/yr). Does not include national grid hardening (systemic), which is tracked separately.
Research And Monitoring $15.0M/yr
Ongoing telescope/radar time reservations, telemetry processing and data pipelines, DSN/comm bandwidth operations, HPC operational time, modeling and scientific contractor engagements, and routine cybersecurity for monitoring (~$15M/yr). This covers weekly astrometric measurement cadence and simulation campaigns.
Supplies And Consumables $1.0M/yr
Consumables for labs, spare parts, PPE, expendables for field teams and MTF deployments (~$1M/yr).
⚡ Cost Scenarios
📊 Baseline (baseline) $151.0M/yr
90.0% probability / year
SCP-6823 remains in standard Jovian orbit or within parameters manageable by Galileo Procedures; weekly monitoring, deception of non-Foundation astronomers, routine MTF entertainment planning and site maintenance continue without major activation of Newton Procedures.
orbital_deviation <= 0.25% orbital_radius >= 3_AU no major public detections
🚨 Minor Incident $161.0M/yr
6.0% probability / year +$10.0M vs baseline
Localized detection, small-scale observatory exposure, or targeted noncompliance that requires short-response tug sorties, extra cleanup/amnestization operations, and limited diplomatic payments.
localized data leak single observatory exposure small unexpected orbital telemetry anomaly
🚨 Major Breach $5.9B/yr
3.0% probability / year +$5.7B vs baseline
Newton Protocol activation: SCP-6823's orbital radius decreases below 3 AU and Foundation must execute protective-satellite launches, mass on-orbit deployments, urgent servicing and potentially engage Jupiter Protocol contingencies (weapons deployment is limited in expected effect). This scenario triggers major one-time operational surges beyond baseline recurring spending.
orbital_radius < 3_AU Newton_protocol_initiated rapid_launch_and_deployment
🚨 Political Exposure $1.2B/yr
1.0% probability / year +$1.0B vs baseline
Significant public/political exposure of Galileo/Newton operations or a leak revealing Foundation involvement on an international scale, forcing large legal settlements, PR operations, and partial deployment of stabilization funds (Foundation contribution to mitigate immediate fallout).
major_information_leak international_political_dispute large-scale legal action
👥 Personnel 140 total
Role Count Notes
Astrometry / Observatory Scientists 10 Weekly distance measurements, orbital-parameter analysis, telescope ops and instrument scientists.
Data Analysts / Telemetry Operators 8 Telemetry scheduling, signal processing and anomaly detection for weekly measurements and continuous surveillance.
Research Scientists & Engineers 50 Astrophysicists, planetary scientists, computational physicists, systems engineers, satellite designers and modeling teams for simulation and planning.
MTF 'Jester\'s Tongue' Operators and Support 30 MTF members, entertainment coordinators, secure transport and on-site performance managers for GPEZ operations.
Satellite / Comms Engineers & Operators 12 DSN/ground station operators, comms engineers, beacon and encryption specialists.
On-orbit Servicing & Tug Crew / Robotics 8 Servicing mission planners, robotics operators and mission control staff for tugs and servicing vehicles.
Cybersecurity & Signal Spoofing Team 6 Develop and operate Galileo Procedures interception/republish systems and classified data-falsification pipelines.
Site Security / Facilities 10 Physical security for Primary Astronomical Site and GPEZ, facilities technicians and on-site maintenance.
Administrative, Legal & Diplomatic Liaisons 6 Liaisons for limited diplomatic engagement, liaison with Disclosure Board, legal counsel for entertainer acquisitions and covert operations (routine; large international payouts are scenario-driven).
HPC / Simulation Operators 4 High-performance computing ops, simulation specialists.
Medical / Mental Health 2 Medical officers and mental-health support for deployed/rotating staff.
Site Director / Executive Oversight 1 GPEZ Site Director and executive-level oversight.
📋 Confidence Notes
Medium confidence: recurring operational costs and the price of observable Foundation-capable infrastructure (observatory, comms, satellite fleet and launches) are estimable with moderate confidence. Large uncertainties remain around frequency of Newton Protocol activations, political exposure probability, and the behavior of SCP-6823; sovereign/systemic impact figures (grid hardening, national stabilization) are order-of-magnitude and are explicitly excluded from Foundation operational spend. Long-shot programs to redirect/destroy a 200+ Earth-mass object are treated as infeasible and not budgeted (see below).
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