Updated October 25, 2026

Privacy policy

LAUNCHDETECT LLC, Hawaii, USA operates LaunchDetect. Contact ops@launchdetect.com for privacy questions or requests.

Browsing the public launch record

You can use Explore without an account or payment. Explore does not request your name, precise location, camera, microphone, or contacts. It asks for an email address only if you choose to sign up for launch alert emails, described below. Its launch data, fonts, spacecraft illustrations, and fallback Earth image are served from our hosting. Map drawings stay in the current page and disappear when it is reloaded.

Our hosting providers process ordinary connection information, such as IP address, requested URL, time, and browser information, to deliver the site, operate it, and protect it from abuse. These technical records are different from advertising analytics.

While Explore is open, it tells our server about every 45 seconds that it is open. It sends a random code that the page makes up when it loads; our server forgets the code after two minutes. We use this only to show how many people are on the site right now. The code is not saved in your browser and is not linked to you.

Your choices and optional content

Explore uses local storage for your chosen color palette, language, theme and privacy preference, and to remember that the introduction has been shown. It uses session storage to keep its optional coffee reminder from repeating during a visit. Interface translations are packaged with the site; switching languages does not send page text or visitor information to a translation service. It has no advertising or analytics SDK. See the cookie and local-storage policy.

Nothing from another company loads until you choose Accept on the cookie banner shown on your first visit. If you accept, detailed Esri map imagery loads, NASA night imagery loads when you select that layer, and the Buy Me a Coffee button image loads in the header. These providers receive your IP address and the images requested. If you decline, or have not chosen yet, the page uses only content served from our hosting. Change your choice at any time through Privacy choices. Declining stops further requests to these providers; it cannot recall requests already received by a provider. Esri privacy · NASA privacy.

Contact and pilot inquiries

We use details you send us to review your inquiry and reply. The pilot brief editor keeps what you type in the current page; it does not save the brief in browser storage or send it when you select Review. Online submission is currently unavailable. Copy or download your brief and email it only if you choose. Your email provider and our mailbox provider process email you send.

Give only the contact information and high-level description needed for a reply. Do not send passwords, payment-card details, sensitive personal information, or restricted mission information. An inquiry does not subscribe you to marketing or commit you to a paid service.

Launch alert emails

LaunchDetect can email you each time it records a launch detection. Where Explore shows an ALERTS button, you can sign up there; sign-up is optional. When you sign up we store the email address you enter, the date and time of the request, and that the request came from the website. Nothing is sent to that address until you open the confirmation link we email to it. A request that is never confirmed stays inactive and is deleted on request.

Each alert names the launch, the rocket, the launch site and the time the launch was seen, and links to the public launch record. Organisations taking part in a pilot may ask us to add their operational addresses to a version of the alert that also carries an orbit element set for the launch; the same storage, unsubscribe and deletion terms apply to those addresses. Alerts are sent through Amazon Web Services (Amazon Simple Email Service) in the United States, which processes the address and delivery records under its own terms. We keep a record of each alert sent to each address, with the launch, the time and the delivery reference, so that no launch is sent twice and so that we can answer delivery questions.

To protect the sign-up form from abuse, our service counts sign-up requests from each internet connection for one hour and refuses further requests above a small limit. That counter holds the connection's IP address and is deleted automatically after the hour. We do not add alert addresses to any other list, do not use them for marketing, and do not sell or share them.

Every alert email has an unsubscribe link, and an unsubscribe control that your mail program may show. Using either stops the alerts at once. After you unsubscribe we keep the address marked as unsubscribed so that it is not re-added by mistake; ask us at the contact above to delete it entirely. You can also ask us at any time to confirm, correct or delete the address we hold.

Optional support payments

After five minutes of visible browsing, and only if you accepted the cookie banner, Explore loads the Buy Me a Coffee support widget. Selecting its launcher opens the payment experience in an embedded frame operated by Buy Me a Coffee under its privacy policy. The widget is not loaded before the reminder appears. We may receive the supporter information, message, amount, and transaction details that the platform makes available to creators. We use them to acknowledge support, handle payment questions, and keep business records. Do not put sensitive information in a public supporter message. See our support and refund policy.

Accounts and existing workspace features

The separate workspace is for approved users and has additional data flows. Signing in uses Amazon Cognito and authentication storage. Account details, settings, saved locations, API activity, or community content you choose to submit may be processed by our AWS services. Content submitted for public sharing can be visible to others. Avoid uploading personal location information or images containing location metadata unless you intend to disclose it. Explore does not require these features.

For an account or community-content deletion request, contact us to identify the associated records. We will explain any necessary retention for security, business records, or legal obligations, including records held by third parties.

Use, sharing, and retention

We use information to provide requested features, respond to you, keep the service secure, and meet applicable obligations. We use service providers including AWS for hosting, authentication and alert email delivery, and Buy Me a Coffee for support payments. We do not sell personal information or use Explore for targeted advertising. We may disclose information when legally required or necessary to address abuse or establish legal claims.

Contact and business records are kept as needed to handle the inquiry, maintain necessary business records, and address legal obligations. Launch alert addresses and their send records are kept until you unsubscribe or ask for deletion, as described above. Technical and security records follow the relevant hosting retention settings. We do not claim a single fixed retention period across those systems. Ask us about access, correction, or deletion at the contact above. Local preference expiration is listed in the cookie policy.

Location, rights, and children

LaunchDetect is based in the United States, and information may be processed there and where our providers operate. Where applicable law grants access, correction, deletion, portability, objection, or consent-withdrawal rights, contact us to exercise them. We may need proportionate verification of your request; do not email identity documents unless we have arranged a suitable method. You may also complain to your local privacy authority. Using this policy is not consent to optional tracking or a waiver of your rights.

We do not direct account registration, launch alert sign-up or support payments to children under 13 or knowingly collect their information. A parent or guardian who believes a child has sent personal information can contact us for review and deletion.

Changes

We will update this notice when relevant practices change and identify the revision date. Material changes that require a new choice will be presented before the new optional processing begins.