The interactive companion to SMAD,
free for your aerospace program.
If you are teaching capstone design, running a CubeSat project, or supervising a graduate research mission, Hitt Hosting Lab gives you the full Aerospace Pack, 127 calculators, SMAD 8-phase workflow, requirements & V&V traceability, SysML modeler, gate review packages, at no cost. We just ask for a photo of the review package hanging on your wall someday.
Who qualifies
Universities & colleges
Senior design, capstone, aerospace engineering courses, CubeSat programs, and graduate research groups at accredited institutions worldwide. One faculty administrator, with a seat allowance sized to your programme.
- 60 seats by default, tell us if your cohort is larger
- A domain-locked join link per course: only your institution's addresses work
- Faculty admin retains data after students graduate
Student clubs & competitions
Student-led CubeSat teams, AIAA design competitions, NASA USIP, NASA Artemis Student Challenge, ESA Fly Your Satellite teams. 12-month term renewable on re-application.
- Up to 25 active team members
- Full export rights for competition deliverables
- Transfer to commercial pricing if the team spins out
Research labs & non-profits
Academic research missions, planetary defense consortia, open-source space initiatives, and registered 501(c)(3) organizations operating in aerospace.
- Per-project licensing, unlimited projects per institution
- Self-hosted install for data sovereignty (on the roadmap)
- Priority support for NASA / NSF / ESA funded work
What you get
Full Aerospace Pack
SMAD 8-phase methodology, 108 auto-seeded gate criteria, 127 calculators, SysML modeler, orbit propagator, link budget, mass budget, AI trajectory optimizer.
A worked reference mission
Every account lands with read access to Sample Mission, LEO Earth Observation: a sun-synchronous imaging satellite with 15 requirements across every subsystem, plus risks, WBS and cost data. Students see a finished example before starting their own.
Student collaboration
Real-time multi-user editing on requirements, risks, and designs. Student roles separate from faculty admin. Graduated seniors don't lose their portfolio work.
Review packages
Auto-generated SRR / PDR / CDR / TRR / FRR / ORR review data packages from live mission data. Students see what a real aerospace program review looks like.
AI bundle included
Hitt Hosting Lab includes the AI Requirements Generator, AI Test Generator, AI Model Assistant, and Document Extractor, no separate subscription.
Institutional branding
Host under your department URL (lab.se.hitthosting.com/stanford-aa, etc.) with your institution's logo and color scheme on public-facing mission pages.
Apply
We review applications within 3 business days. Approved institutions get a sign-up link for a faculty admin account and a shareable cohort-join link for students.
Frequently asked questions
Is this really free, or is it a gated trial?
Really free for qualifying academic and research users, forever. Approved institutions get the full Aerospace Pack plus the AI bundle with no credit card and no auto-conversion to paid. We reserve the right to revoke access only if commercial use is detected.
What if my team spins off and becomes a commercial company?
Keep your data. When you incorporate, flip the same workspace to a commercial plan: all your requirements, risks, SysML models, and review packages migrate as-is. Usually this is the point where a NewSpace startup subscribes to Professional ($129/seat/mo).
We use a non-US institution email. Does it still qualify?
Yes. `.ac.uk`, `.edu.cn`, `.univ-*.fr`, and equivalent country-coded academic domains all qualify. Non-standard institutional domains work too. We just verify the institution via an accreditation lookup.
Can I use this for my personal learning if I'm not enrolled?
Self-taught learners aren't covered by Hitt Hosting Lab, but the free calculator suite at /tools is unrestricted. If you're working through SMAD on your own and want full mission workflow, we do offer an individual Starter tier at $14.99/mo.
Will there be advertising or watermarks on review packages?
No ads. Exported PDFs carry a small "Generated with Hitt Hosting Lab (free academic license)" footer that can be removed on commercial plans.