Legal

Terms of Service

Last updated: May 10, 2026

These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your access to and use of Delta-V Academy and any associated software, content, and features (collectively, the "Service"). The Service is provided by BuildingRome ("we", "us"). By accessing or using the Service, you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, do not use the Service.

Educational use only. Delta-V Academy is an instructional simulator. It is built using publicly available open data and simplified physics models for teaching and exploration. It is not a flight-certified tool and must not be used for spacecraft operations, mission planning, collision avoidance, navigation, defense, regulatory filings, or any other safety-, finance-, or mission-critical purpose.
Beta software. The Service is in active development. Features, lesson content, prices, account tiers, and gating rules may change at any time. Lesson progress, account state, and any AI-generated content may be lost during a migration or rollback. Treat the Service as evolving educational software, not a stable product of record.

1. Eligibility

You may use the Service if you can form a binding contract with BuildingRome under applicable law. The Kids levels and Novice Lesson 1 are intended to be usable without an account. Creating an account and accessing the rest of the Service requires that you are at least 13 years old (or the equivalent age of digital consent in your jurisdiction). If you are under that age, you may use the Service only with the involvement of a parent, teacher, or legal guardian who agrees to these Terms on your behalf.

2. Accounts

Most of the Service requires a free account. You can create an account using email + password or by signing in with Google through Firebase Authentication. You agree to:

  • Provide a valid email address you control;
  • Keep your password confidential and not share your account with others;
  • Notify us promptly if you suspect unauthorized access;
  • Be responsible for activity that occurs under your account.

We may suspend or terminate accounts that violate these Terms, abuse rate limits, attempt to bypass gating, or use automated clients to extract content. You can delete your own account at any time by emailing info@buildingrome.dev from the email address on file. See the Privacy Policy for the data we delete and the timeline.

3. Plans, Pricing, and Payment

All curriculum content is free. Every lesson at every level (Kids, Novice, Intermediate, Advanced) is available without payment to anyone with a free account. There is no content paywall and there is no plan to add one.

The only paid surface is AI usage. Free signed-in users get a daily allowance of AI Mission Architect calls (currently 3 per day) and, when shipped, AI Coach questions. An optional AI Pro plan ($5/month or $50/year, processed by Stripe) lifts the daily cap to unlimited. Educators (verified teachers) and Institutions (school or district contracts) get unlimited AI as part of their tier. Anonymous users are limited to the Kids levels and Novice Lesson 1.

Voluntary support is offered at /support as a one-time gift or recurring contribution. Support does not unlock any content or features; it is a thank-you, not a transaction. Support is processed by Stripe and is not tax-deductible while Delta-V Academy is operated by BuildingRome Studio LLC. If a 501(c)(3) arm is established later, tax-deductible donations would route through that entity and we would update these Terms accordingly.

Stripe processes both flows on hosted pages. When you click an AI Pro or Support button you leave Delta-V Academy and complete the transaction on a Stripe-hosted URL (buy.stripe.com). On a successful AI Pro subscription, our webhook receives the Stripe event, writes tier:'ai_pro'and your Stripe customer ID to your account record, and the daily AI cap lifts. Voluntary support transactions only persist your Stripe customer ID; no tier change. To cancel a subscription, update your card, or view invoices, use the "Manage billing & subscriptions" link in your account menu, which opens the Stripe-hosted Customer Portal. AI Pro subscriptions are configured to cancel at the end of the current billing period, so you keep access through the period you've already paid for.

4. Educational and Instructional Purpose

The Service exists to teach orbital mechanics and space domain awareness concepts. Lessons, simulations, telemetry readouts, ground tracks, sensor models, and constellation builds are approximations intended for learning. They are not a substitute for engineering analysis, mission design software, certified propagators, or operational decision support.

You agree not to rely on the Service for any of the following:

  • Real-world spacecraft command, navigation, or station-keeping decisions.
  • Conjunction assessment, collision avoidance, or maneuver planning for live assets.
  • Launch licensing, frequency coordination, or any regulatory submission.
  • Defense, intelligence, targeting, or operational space domain awareness.
  • Insurance, financial, investment, or due-diligence determinations.
  • Any decision where errors could result in injury, loss of life, property damage, financial loss, or legal exposure.

5. Open Data and Source Materials

Reference values, two-line element sets, ephemerides, ground station coordinates, sensor parameters, and historical mission data shown in the Service are derived from publicly available open sources. These include CelesTrak, Space-Track, NASA, ESA, the FCC, ITU filings, peer-reviewed literature, and similar open catalogs and publications. We do not claim ownership of upstream data and provide no guarantee that any value is current, complete, or accurate. Operational data should always be sourced directly from authoritative providers.

6. AI-Generated Content

The AI Mission Architect uses third-party large language models (currently Google Gemini) to translate natural-language prompts into simulator configurations. AI output may be incorrect, incomplete, or physically implausible. Treat generated missions as creative starting points for exploration, never as engineering artifacts. You are responsible for what you submit to the Architect and must not include confidential, proprietary, export-controlled, or otherwise sensitive information. Architect access is rate-limited per account and per IP; abuse may result in suspension.

7. Disclaimer of Warranties

THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED. To the fullest extent permitted by law, BuildingRome disclaims all warranties, including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, accuracy, completeness, reliability, availability, freedom from defects, and freedom from harmful components. We do not warrant that calculations, ground tracks, sensor coverage, conjunctions, or any other simulator output is accurate or fit for any specific use.

8. Limitation of Liability

TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, BUILDINGROME, ITS AFFILIATES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSORS WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR FOR ANY LOSS OF PROFITS, REVENUE, DATA, GOODWILL, MISSION CAPABILITY, OR OPPORTUNITY, ARISING OUT OF OR RELATED TO YOUR USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE SERVICE, REGARDLESS OF THE LEGAL THEORY AND EVEN IF WE HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

Our aggregate liability for any claim arising out of or relating to the Service is limited to one hundred US dollars (US $100), or the amount you paid us to use the Service in the twelve months preceding the claim, whichever is greater. Some jurisdictions do not allow certain limitations, so portions of this section may not apply to you.

9. Indemnification

You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless BuildingRome and its affiliates from any claim, demand, loss, or expense (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of (a) your use or misuse of the Service, (b) your violation of these Terms, (c) your violation of any law or third-party right, or (d) any decision or action taken in reliance on output from the Service.

10. Acceptable Use

You agree not to:

  • Use the Service for any unlawful purpose or in violation of export-control or sanctions laws.
  • Reverse engineer, decompile, or attempt to extract the source code beyond what is permitted by applicable open-source licenses.
  • Probe, scan, overload, disrupt, or attempt to gain unauthorized access to the Service or its hosting infrastructure.
  • Bypass or attempt to bypass account gating, rate limits, lesson access controls, or any other security or quota mechanism.
  • Create accounts in bulk, share accounts across users, or use automation to consume the AI Architect quota.
  • Submit prompts or content that are unlawful, harassing, infringing, or that contain personal data of third parties.
  • Use the Service to develop a competing product through scraping, automated extraction, or model training without our written permission.
  • Misrepresent simulator output as authoritative, certified, or operational data.

11. Intellectual Property

The Delta-V Academy name, logo, lesson narrative, and original code are owned by BuildingRome and protected by intellectual property laws. Open-source components remain governed by their respective licenses. You may take screenshots and screen recordings of the Service for personal, educational, journalistic, or fair-use purposes, including with the attribution overlay produced by the capture tool. Other commercial reuse requires our written permission.

12. Third-Party Services

The Service depends on third parties including Vercel (hosting and performance analytics), Firebase (authentication and Firestore database, by Google), PostHog (product analytics and event tracking), Google (Gemini API for AI Architect), and Stripe (payments and Customer Portal for AI Pro subscriptions and voluntary support contributions). Your use of those services through the Service is also subject to their terms and policies. We are not responsible for third-party service outages, errors, or changes.

13. Privacy

Our handling of information is described in the Privacy Policy, which is incorporated by reference into these Terms. The Privacy Policy describes how to request data export and account deletion.

14. Modifications to the Service and Terms

We may add, change, or remove features at any time without notice. We may also update these Terms. Material changes will be signaled by updating the "Last updated" date above and, where appropriate, by emailing signed-in users. Continued use of the Service after a change means you accept the revised Terms.

15. Termination

We may suspend or terminate your access to the Service at any time for any reason, including violation of these Terms. You may stop using the Service or delete your account at any time. The sections that by their nature should survive termination (including liability, indemnification, intellectual property, and governing law) will survive.

16. Governing Law and Disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Florida, United States, without regard to conflict-of-laws principles. Any dispute arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Service will be brought exclusively in the state or federal courts located in Florida, and you consent to personal jurisdiction there. To the extent permitted by law, you and BuildingRome waive any right to a jury trial and to participate in a class action.

17. Severability and Entire Agreement

If any provision of these Terms is held unenforceable, the remaining provisions remain in effect. These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy, constitute the entire agreement between you and BuildingRome regarding the Service and supersede prior agreements on the subject.

18. Contact

Questions about these Terms can be sent to info@buildingrome.dev. See the Contact page for more options.