The U.S. Department of Education (the Department) is announcing the Your Place in Space Challenge (Challenge), a Challenge funded by the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006, as amended by the Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act of 2018 (Perkins V). The Challenge calls upon eligible high schools to submit entries that demonstrate a product or service that will advance space missions and exploration.

The Official Rules, Terms, and Conditions cannot be modified except by the Department at its sole and absolute discretion. The invalidity or unenforceability of any provision of these Official Rules, Terms, and Conditions shall not affect the validity or enforceability of any other provision. In the event that any provision is determined to be invalid or otherwise unenforceable or illegal, these Official Rules, Terms, and Conditions shall otherwise remain in effect and shall be construed in accordance with their terms as if the invalid or illegal provision were not contained herein.

Dates

We must receive your submission on or before October 30, 2023, at 6:00:00 p.m. (ET).

The Department will determine time frames for judging submissions, as well as the date that winners will be announced. The Department will conduct an online information session prior to the Entry Deadline of the Challenge. The date of the online information session will be determined and announced by the Department, posted on the Challenge Website, and sent to individuals that have requested to receive email updates on the Challenge website. The dates for Challenge events will be determined and announced by the Department.

Addresses

Submit entries for this Challenge on the Challenge Website.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:  Jenny Lambert, U.S. Department of Education, 550 12th Street SW., 10th Floor, Washington, DC 20202 or by email:  jenny.lambert@ed.gov. If you use a telecommunications device or a text telephone for the deaf and hard of hearing, call the Federal Relay Service, toll free, at 1-800-877-8339.

Definitions

The definitions of Career and Technical Education and Eligible Institution are from section 3 of the Perkins Act (20 U.S.C. 2301 et seq.). 

The definition of Underserved Student is from the Final Priorities and Definitions— Secretary’s Supplemental Priorities and Definitions for Discretionary Grants Programs, published in the Federal Register on December 10, 2021.

Supplementary Information

I. Administration of the Challenge 

This Challenge is an open innovation prize competition being conducted by the U.S. Department of Education (Department). This Challenge is one in a series of Challenges entitled CTE Momentum. Luminary Labs, L.L.C. (Luminary Labs) has been contracted by the Department to assist and support the Department in organizing and managing these Challenges. Activities conducted by Luminary Labs may also include providing technical assistance to potential entrants.

Additional background and information about the objectives of the Challenge are available on the Challenge Website.

Program Authority:  The goals, purposes, and activities related to the Challenge are authorized by section 114(c)(1) of Perkins V, 20 U.S.C. 2324(c)(1). Under this section, the Secretary of the Department is authorized to carry out research, development, dissemination, evaluation and assessment, capacity building, and technical assistance with regard to career and technical education (CTE) programs under Perkins V. 

II. Purpose and Call to Action

The purpose of this Challenge is to create engaging learning opportunities for students to explore the challenges and opportunities in space missions; connect CTE programs with a wide variety of space careers; and inspire students to envision and pursue space careers. The call to action is to submit a design for a product or service that will contribute to space missions and exploration.

CTE is an essential component of developing a more competitive workforce and preparing students to succeed in careers. Foundational elements of CTE include applied learning, technical skills attainment, and employability skills. 

As technology becomes a critical component of an increasing number of jobs, education providers and institutions must adapt to prepare students for cutting-edge quality careers that will build our nation’s future. Growth industries, including aerospace, robotics, medical devices, mobile applications, consumer technology, and sustainable development, all point to an increasing need for applied technical learning experiences.

Leveraging the power of CTE, this Challenge seeks to provide high school students with the opportunity to develop skills and experiences to envision and pursue space careers across a wide array of industry sectors and good jobs. 

III. Eligibility

(a) An eligible entrant must:

Meet the definition of “Eligible Recipient” in section 3(21)(A) of Perkins V and be eligible to receive funds under section 131 of Perkins V. 

(b) Entrants must also:

(1) Register on the Challenge Website (see Additional Terms that are part of the Official Rules, under the General Terms and Conditions in this notice);

(2) Enter a submission on the Challenge Website according to the Official Rules, Terms, and Conditions in this notice; 

(3) Comply with all requirements on the Challenge Website and this notice;

(4) Provide affirmation upon submission to the Challenge that an entrant is eligible under paragraph (a) of this section. If selected as winner, entrants must provide documentation to demonstrate their eligibility prior to winner announcement;

(5) Submit a statement from the entrant’s principal or school district-level administrator approving the entrant’s permission to enter the Challenge; and

(6) Agree to:

(i) Assume any and all risks and waive claims against the Federal government and its related entities, except in the case of willful misconduct, for any injury, death, damage, or loss of property, revenue, or profits, whether direct, indirect, or consequential, arising from their participation in the Challenge, whether the injury, death, damage, or loss of property, revenue, or profits, whether direct, indirect, or consequential, arises through negligence or otherwise;

(ii) Indemnify the Federal government against third-party claims for damages arising from, or related to, Challenge activities, patents, copyrights, and trademark infringements; and

(iii) Comply with and abide by the Official Rules, Terms, and Conditions in this notice and the decisions of the Department which shall be final and binding in all respects.

IV. Prizes

Any potential prizes awarded under this Challenge will be paid by electronic funds transfer. Award recipients will be responsible for any applicable local, state, and Federal taxes, and reporting that may be required under applicable tax laws.

V. Challenge Eligibility Criteria

(a) To participate in the Challenge, an entrant must submit an eligible entry according to the Eligibility section of this notice.

(b) An entrant must complete the entry requirements outlined in the Submission Information section of this notice.

VI. Award Selection Criteria

Judges may assign up to 20 points for each selection criterion during the scoring of submissions (for a total of up to 100 points) based on the following five selection criteria:

(1) Call to action. The extent to which the submission demonstrates a design for a product or service that will contribute to space missions and exploration. 

(2) CTE connection. The extent to which the submission demonstrates an ability and intention to incorporate available CTE programs and include CTE students at the school.

(3) Learning outcomes. The extent to which the submission demonstrates an ability and intention to improve student knowledge and hands-on exposure to space skills and multidisciplinary content.

(4) Student populations. The extent to which the submission focuses on students from special populations and underserved student populations (see Definition section).

(5) Community engagement. The extent to which the submission describes how the entrant plans to engage the broader educational ecosystem that includes, but is not limited to students, parents, industry partners, local governments, and community organizations. 

The Department will review the recommendations of the judges and may consider additional characteristics when selecting finalists from the top scoring submissions to ensure diverse distribution of awards, including: 

  1. Geographic location and local population density; 
  2. Percentage of students enrolled in free and reduced-price lunch programs under the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1759), as amended through P.L. 116–6; and
  3. School size (number of students).

VII. Submission Information

1. To participate in the Challenge, an entrant must:

(a) Register on the Challenge Website; and

(b) Enter the required information on the Challenge Website submission form.

2. Content and format of submission requirements:

(a) Responses to text fields

(b) Permission letter (PDF)

(c) Video upload

3. Submission dates and times:

The Challenge officially begins on the Challenge Start Date with this announcement and continues until the Entry Deadline. Luminary Labs is the official timekeeper for the Challenge. Submissions must be received by the Entry Deadline to be eligible. To submit an entry, an entrant must go to the Challenge Website and complete all required fields of the submission form before the Entry Deadline. Each entrant must complete all of the required fields in the submission in accordance with the Official Rules, Terms, and Conditions of this notice. All entrants are required to provide consent to those Official Rules, Terms, and Conditions upon submitting an entry. Once submitted, a submission may not be altered. The Department reserves the right to disqualify any submission that the Department deems inappropriate. 

Entrants must designate a primary contact to serve as the team lead. Each team lead must be employed as a CTE teacher or CTE coordinator by the submitting school and must be at least 18 years of age. A school may collaborate with another school or schools. However, one team lead and lead school must be identified. In the event that a dispute regarding the identity of the entrant who actually submitted the submission cannot be resolved by the Department, the affected entry will be deemed ineligible.

The Department encourages entrants to submit entries as far in advance of the Entry Deadline as possible and suggests not later than one hour before the Entry Deadline to ensure the completed submission is received. If an entrant submits an entry after the Entry Deadline because of a technical problem with the Challenge Website system, the entrant must immediately contact the For Further Information contact in this notice and provide an explanation of the technical problem experienced on the Challenge Website system. The Department will accept the entrant’s submission if the Department can confirm that a technical problem occurred with the Challenge Website system and that the technical problem affected the entrant’s ability to submit an entry by the Entry Deadline. The Department will contact the entrant after a determination is made on whether the entry will be accepted.

Note:  These extensions apply only to the unavailability of, or technical problems with, the Challenge Website system. The Department will not grant an entrant an extension if the entrant failed to submit an entry in the system by the Entry Deadline or if the technical problem experienced is unrelated to the Challenge Website system.

Individuals with disabilities who need an accommodation or auxiliary aid in connection with the submission process should contact the For Further Information contact in this notice. If the Department provides an accommodation or auxiliary aid to an individual with a disability in connection with the submission process, the entry remains subject to all other requirements and limitations in this notice.

VIII. Submission Review Information

Review and Eligibility Determination Process 

The Department, with the assistance and support of Luminary Labs, will review submissions based on the requirements in the Eligibility section of this notice to determine if entrant schools should be deemed eligible and advance to the selection process.

Review and Selection Process

Submissions will be reviewed by independent judges. Should the volume of submissions received exceed the capacity of the independent judges to conduct a thorough evaluation, an independent review panel with expertise relevant to criteria described in the Award Selection Criteria section of this notice will conduct a preliminary review of the submissions received to identify the most competitive submissions for final judging by a panel of independent judges. In conducting the preliminary review, the independent review panel will assign scores to each submission according to the criteria described in the Award Selection Criteria section of this notice. During the preliminary review, each criterion may be assigned up to 20 points for a total of up to 100 points. The size of the independent review panel will be based on the number of entrants in the Challenge. 

Up to 50 submissions with the highest scores assigned by the independent review panel will then be scored by the independent judges based on the quality of each entry according to the Award Selection Criteria section of this notice. Judges may assign up to 20 points for each criterion for a total of up to 100 points.

From the pool of submissions received, the independent judges will recommend to the Department entrants to be selected as winners based on assigned scores. The Department will review the recommendations of the independent judges and make final selection decisions as described in the Award Selection Criteria section of this notice.

By participating in this Challenge, each entrant acknowledges and agrees that such recommendations of the independent judges and review panelists based on the criteria may differ and agrees to be bound by, and not to Challenge, the final decisions of the Department.

IX. Official Rules, Terms, and Conditions

General Terms and Conditions

The Department reserves the right to suspend, postpone, cease, terminate, or otherwise modify this Challenge or any entrant’s participation in the Challenge, at any time, at the Department’s sole discretion.

All entry information submitted on the Challenge Website and all materials, including any copy of the submission, become property of the Department and will not be acknowledged or returned by the Department or Luminary Labs. Proof of submission is not considered proof of delivery or receipt of such entry. Furthermore, the Department and Luminary Labs shall have no liability for any submission that is lost, intercepted, or not received by the Department and/or Luminary Labs. The Department and Luminary Labs assume no liability or responsibility for any error, omission, interruption, deletion, theft, destruction, unauthorized access to, or alteration of, submissions.

Representations and Warranties/Indemnification

By participating in the Challenge, each entrant represents, warrants, and covenants as follows:

(a) The entrants are the sole authors, creators, and owners of the submission;

(b) The entrant’s submission—

(i) Is not the subject of any actual or threatened litigation or claim;

(ii) Does not, and will not, violate or infringe upon the privacy rights, publicity rights, or other legal rights of any third party;

(iii) Does not contain any harmful computer code (sometimes referred to as “malware,” “viruses,” or “worms”); and

(c) The submission, and entrants’ implementation of the submission, does not, and will not, violate any applicable laws or regulations of the United States.

Entrants will indemnify, defend, and hold harmless the Department and Luminary Labs from and against all third-party claims, actions, or proceedings of any kind and from any and all damages, liabilities, costs, and expenses relating to, or arising from, entrant’s submission or any breach or alleged breach of any of the representations, warranties, and covenants of entrant hereunder. 

The Department reserves the right to disqualify any submission that the Department, in its discretion, deems to violate the Official Rules, Terms, and Conditions in this notice.

Submission License

Each entrant retains title to, and full ownership of, their submission. The entrant expressly reserves all legal rights not expressly granted under this agreement. By participating in the Challenge, each entrant hereby irrevocably grants a license to the Department and Luminary Labs to store and access submissions in perpetuity that may be reproduced, published, or distributed in the future. Please refer to Intellectual Property of Submissions section for further information regarding rights to submissions.

Publicity Release

By participating in the Challenge, each entrant hereby irrevocably grants to the Department and Luminary Labs the right to use such entrant’s name, likeness, image, and biographical information in any and all media for advertising and promotional purposes relating to the Challenge in perpetuity and otherwise as stated in the Submission License section of this notice.

Disqualification

The Department reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to disqualify any entrant who is found to be tampering with the entry process or the operation of the Challenge, Challenge Website, or other Challenge-related websites; to be acting in violation of the Official Rules, Terms, and Conditions; to be acting in an unsportsmanlike or disruptive manner or with the intent to disrupt or undermine the legitimate operation of the Challenge; or to annoy, abuse, threaten, or harass any other person. The Department reserves the right to seek damages and other remedies from any such person to the fullest extent permitted by law.

Links to Third-Party Websites

The Challenge Website may contain links to third-party websites that are not owned or controlled by the Department or Luminary Labs. The Department and Luminary Labs do not endorse or assume any responsibility for any such third-party sites. If an entrant accesses a third-party website from the Challenge Website, the entrant does so at the entrant’s own risk and expressly relieves the Department and/or Luminary Labs from any and all liability arising from use of any third-party website or its content.

Disclaimer

The Challenge Website contains information and resources from public and private organizations, as well as insights on the activities of schools, programs, grantees, and other education stakeholders, to promote continuing discussion of educational innovation and reform that may be useful to the reader. Inclusion of this information does not constitute an endorsement by the Department or Luminary Labs of any products, services, curriculum, pedagogy, or view expressed.

The Challenge Website also contains hyperlinks and URLs created and maintained by outside organizations, which are provided for the reader’s convenience. The Department and Luminary Labs are not responsible for the accuracy of the information contained therein.

Notice to Challenge Entrants and Award Recipients

Attempts to notify entrants and award recipients will be made using the email address associated with the entrants’ submission. The Department and Luminary Labs are not responsible for email or other communication problems of any kind.

If, despite reasonable efforts, an entrant does not respond within three days of the first notification attempt regarding selection as an award recipient (or a shorter time as exigencies may require) or if the notification is returned as undeliverable to such entrant, that entrant may forfeit the entrant’s award and associated prizes and an alternate award recipient may be selected.

If any potential award recipient is found to be ineligible, has not complied with the Official Rules, Terms, and Conditions, or declines the applicable prize for any reason prior to award, such potential award recipient will be disqualified. An alternate award recipient may be selected, or the applicable award may go unawarded.

Intellectual Property (IP) of Submissions

Entrants retain ownership of their submission, including any software, research, or other IP that they develop in connection therewith, subject to the license granted to the Department to use submissions as set forth herein.

Entrants retain all rights to the submission and any invention or work, including any software, submitted as part of the submission, subject to the following:

If the submission wins, the Department retains a nonexclusive, nontransferable, irrevocable, paid-up world-wide license to any such invention or work of the submission throughout the world, in perpetuity, to reproduce, publish, or otherwise use the work for Federal purposes and authorize others to do so.

Please refer to Submission License above for further information regarding rights to submissions.

Dates/Deadlines

The Department reserves the right to modify any dates or deadlines set forth in the Official Rules, Terms, and Conditions or otherwise governing the Challenge.

Challenge Termination

The Department reserves the right to suspend, postpone, cease, terminate, or otherwise modify the Challenge, or any entrant’s participation in the Challenge, at any time at the Department’s discretion.

General Liability Release

By participating in the Challenge, each entrant hereby agrees that —

(a) The Department and Luminary Labs shall not be responsible or liable for any losses, damages, or injuries of any kind (including death) resulting from participation in the Challenge or any Challenge-related activity, or from entrants’ acceptance, receipt, possession, use, or misuse of any prize; and

(b) The entrant will indemnify, defend, and hold harmless the Department and Luminary Labs from and against all third-party claims, actions, or proceedings of any kind and from any and all damages, liabilities, costs, and expenses relating to, or arising from, the entrant’s participation in the Challenge.

Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, the Department and Luminary Labs are not responsible for incomplete, illegible, misdirected, misprinted, late, lost, postage-due, damaged, or stolen entries or prize notifications; or for lost, interrupted, inaccessible, or unavailable networks, servers, satellites, Internet Service Providers, Websites, or other connections; or for miscommunications, failed, jumbled, scrambled, delayed, or misdirected computer, telephone, cable transmissions or other communications; or for any technical malfunctions, failures, difficulties, or other errors of any kind or nature; or for the incorrect or inaccurate capture of information, or the failure to capture any information.

The Official Rules, Terms, and Conditions cannot be modified except by the Department at its sole and absolute discretion. The invalidity or unenforceability of any provision of these Official Rules, Terms, and Conditions shall not affect the validity or enforceability of any other provision. In the event that any provision is determined to be invalid or otherwise unenforceable or illegal, these Official Rules, Terms, and Conditions shall otherwise remain in effect and shall be construed in accordance with their terms as if the invalid or illegal provision were not contained herein.

Exercise

The failure of the Department to exercise or enforce any right or provision of the Official Rules, Terms, and Conditions shall not constitute a waiver of such right or provision.

Governing Law

All issues and questions concerning the construction, validity, interpretation, and enforceability of the Official Rules, Terms, and Conditions shall be governed by and construed in accordance with U.S. Federal law as applied in the Federal courts of the District of Columbia if a complaint is filed by any party against the Department, and the laws of the State of New York as applied in the New York state courts in New York City if a complaint is filed by any party against Luminary Labs.

Privacy Policy

By participating in the Challenge, each entrant hereby agrees that, occasionally, the Department and Luminary Labs may also use the entrant’s information to contact the entrant about Challenge and innovation related activities and acknowledges that the entrant has read and accepted the privacy policy on the Challenge Website.

Additional Terms That Are Part of the Official Rules, Terms, and Conditions

Please review the Luminary Lightbox™ Terms of Service at www.LuminaryLightbox.com/terms for additional rules that apply to participation in the Challenge and more generally to use of the Challenge Website. Such Terms of Service are incorporated by reference into the Official Rules, Terms, and Conditions. If there is a conflict between the Terms of Service and these Official Rules, Terms, and Conditions, the latter terms shall control with respect to this Challenge only.

Participation in the Challenge constitutes an entrant’s full and unconditional agreement to the Official Rules, Terms, and Conditions. By entering, an entrant agrees that all decisions related to the Challenge that are made pursuant to these Official Rules, Terms, and Conditions are final and binding and that all such decisions are at the sole discretion of the Department and/or Luminary Labs.

Luminary Labs collects personal information from entrants to the Challenge. The information collected is subject to the privacy policy located here: https://LuminaryLightbox.com/privacy.

List of Winners/Official Rules/Contact

To obtain a list of winners (after the conclusion of the Challenge) or a copy of the Official Rules, Terms, and Conditions, send a self-addressed envelope with the proper postage affixed to:  Luminary Labs, 61 Broadway Suite 2800. New York, NY 10006. Please specify “Awards List” or “Official Rules” and the name of the specific Challenge in this request.

Please contact the For Further Information contact should you have any comments or questions about the Official Rules, Terms, and Conditions.

X. Other Information

Accessible Format:  Individuals with disabilities can obtain this document and a copy of the submission package in an accessible format (e.g., braille, large print, or audio recording) on request to the For Further Information contact in this notice.

Electronic Access to This Document:  The official version of this document is the document published on the Challenge Website. 

08. Privacy policy for the Challenge Website

Powered by Luminary Labs, LLC (“Luminary Labs”)

The prize competitions hosted on https://ctemomentum.com and the Challenge Website are being managed by Luminary Labs under contract with the U.S. Department of Education (Contract Number: GS-07F-015AA Order 91990021A0018/91990021F0380).

Policy Updates

Luminary Labs LLC (“Luminary Labs”) may update this Privacy Policy periodically. Please check for updates when accessing this site in the future.

Please contact us at hello@ctemomentum.com should you have any comments or questions about this Privacy Policy.

Summary

Thank you for your interest in the Challenge. This Privacy Policy details how information on this website is collected and used by Luminary Labs and the U.S. Department of Education (“the Department”). By visiting this site, you are agreeing to the terms of this Privacy Policy.

yourplaceinspacechallenge.com (referred to as the “website,” “Challenge Website,” or “site”) is organized and hosted by Luminary Labs. This is not a government website and the Department’s Privacy Policy does not apply to this site. For more information about the Department and the Department’s Privacy Policy, please visit www.ed.gov or view ED’s Privacy Policy.

yourplaceinspacechallenge.com and the services provided through this website are properties of Luminary Labs. Therefore, throughout this Privacy Policy the words “we,” “us,” “our,” and the “Organizer” refer to Luminary Labs.

Any individual or team that submits a submission to the Challenge (“a competition”) will collectively be referred to as “you,” “team,” “your,” “your team,” or “entrant,” throughout this privacy policy. All submission information and submissions, including team and submission details, shall be collectively referred to herein as the “submissions” or each as a “submission.”

Information Collected

The Department and Luminary Labs may collect personal information about site visitors in order to conduct the competitions. We will not collect personally identifiable information about you unless you choose to submit an application for a competition. We do not give, share, sell, or transfer any personally identifiable information to a third party.

You will be asked to provide personally identifiable information (such as your name, email address, phone number, and professional affiliations) when making a submission to a competition. To enter a competition, you will also be required to submit non-personally identifiable information including, but not limited to, images representing your submission, and answers to specific questions posed on the submission form. All submitted information is used only for the expressed purposes for which it is intended and is not made available to any third party.

If you do nothing during your visit but browse through the website, read pages, or download information, our website’s operating system will automatically record some general information about your visit.

During your visit, our web operating system will record:

  • The Internet domain for your Internet service, such as “xcompany.com” or “xcompany.net” if you use a private Internet access account, or “yourschool.edu” if you connect from a college or university domain.
  • The type of browser (such as “Chrome version X” or “Internet Explorer version X”) that you are using.
  • The type of operating system that you use (such as Macintosh, Linux, or Windows).
  • The date and time you visit our site, and the web pages that you visit on our site.
  • The address of the previous website you were visiting if you linked to us from another website.
  • The city and state from which you are browsing.
  • We use this information for statistical analysis and to help us make our site more useful to visitors. This tracking system does not record information about individuals.

Use of Information

The Department and Luminary Labs may use your personally identifiable information for the purposes of conducting the competitions and communicating with you about the competitions. The Department and Luminary Labs will not share with other external entities information submitted to or collected by the Department and Luminary Labs, except with the review panel for the purposes of evaluating submissions and selecting competition winners. When the winners have been selected, the Department and Luminary Labs will share the school names of the entrants as disclosed by these entrants in the submission form. No other entrants’ personally identifiable information (PII) will be shared with the public.

The Department will not share with other external entities information submitted to or collected by the Department or by Luminary Labs, except for with partners participating in the competitions, and publicizing the winning submissions. When the winners have been selected, the Department will share the winners’ school names, cities, and states with the public. No other contestants’ PII will be shared with the public.

Third-Party Sharing Resulting from Legal Processes

As required by law, the Department and Luminary Labs may share your information when legally compelled to do so. This may include to government entities or to third parties in response to subpoenas, court orders, or other legal processes. The Department and Luminary Labs may also disclose personally identifiable information in order to protect and defend our legal rights or defend against legal claims that have been or may be brought against us. Additionally, the Department and Luminary Labs may share this information in order to protect the rights, property, or safety of you or another person. In this instance, we may share your personally identifiable information with law enforcement or another entity we feel, in our judgment, may be able to protect you or the other person. Finally, should the Department or Luminary Labs reasonably feel than any activities are unlawful, we will report these activities to law enforcement.

Security of Your Information

Luminary Labs takes appropriate measures to secure and protect the privacy of your information. All information will be housed on the secure servers of Luminary Labs’ data storage provider. These servers are protected with generally available security technologies, including firewalls and data encryption. As a contractor to the Department, Luminary Labs will share information with the Department. All such information will be housed on secured government systems that comply with Federal information management policies.

Cookies

When you visit any website, its server may generate a piece of text known as a “cookie” to place on your computer. Placing cookie text allows websites to “remember” visitors’ preferences, surfing patterns, and behavior while they are connected.

The cookie makes it easier for you to use the dynamic features of Web pages. Cookies from the competition website only collect information about your browser’s visit to the site; they do not collect any personal information about you.

There are two types of cookies, single session (temporary) and multi-session (persistent). Session cookies last only as long as your Web browser is open. Once you close your browser, the cookie disappears. Persistent cookies are stored on your computer for longer periods.

  • Session Cookies:  We use session cookies for technical purposes such as to enable better navigation through our site. These cookies let our server know that you are continuing a visit to our site.
  • Persistent Cookies:  We use persistent cookies to enable Google Analytics to differentiate between new and returning visitors to our site. A Google Analytics (a third-party analytics provider) persistent cookie remains on your computer between visits to the competition website for six months. Knowing if a user visited the competition website within the past six months tells us the difference between visitors and “unique visitors” or those who visit our website more than once during this time period. This is an industry standard and provides high-level information on the breadth of traffic to and content usage of our given digital services. It is a powerful, invaluable metric because it’s the only measure that accurately calculates how many individual users visited the competition website in a given time. Combined with total visits, it tells a more comprehensive story about users and their visit patterns.

If you do not wish to have session or persistent cookies stored on your machine, you can opt out or disable cookies in your browser. You will still have access to all information and resources on the competition website. However, turning off cookies may affect the functioning of some features of the site. Be aware that disabling cookies in your browser will affect cookie usage at all other websites you visit as well.

The Department and Luminary Labs use a third-party analytics provider (Google Analytics) to analyze the data collected through the session and persistent metrics cookies. The third-party analytics provider does not receive personally identifiable information through these cookies and does not combine, match, or cross-reference site information with any other information. Please review the third-party analytics provider’s privacy policy for additional information.

Luminary Labs does not share the cookies, nor do we use cookies to track your behavior on other sites. Luminary Labs does not access or store the raw information collected through these cookies. We do view aggregate statistical analyses through Google Analytics, but these analyses do not include any personally identifiable information. We do not sell, rent, exchange, or otherwise disclose these analyses to persons or organizations other than the Department, with whom we may share the results of certain Google Analytics analyses for the purposes of improving the site and our service.

Links

This privacy policy pertains to information on yourplaceinspacechallenge.com. If you follow a link to another website, you will not be bound by this privacy policy while visiting that site, but by the policy of the site you will be visiting. These other sites may send their own cookies to users, collect data, or solicit personal information.

Children

The competition website is not directed at children. The Department and Luminary Labs do not knowingly collect any information from individuals under the age of 13. Additionally, you must be 18 years of age or older to enter the Challenge.

Meet the winners of the Your Place in Space Challenge!