Coming into the new year, a Texas Christian University-based startup is fueling up and waiting for the countdown for its planned launch later this month.
Born out of founder Grant Dennis' childhood dreams of flying through the stars as an astronaut, rocketry-focused STEM education startup Hummin Group aims to fire up the next generation of scientists by letting them fire off their own rockets along the way.
“I would look at the streetlight and think there were rocket ships flying through the sky at night. It’s… just something I wanted to be a part of,” Dennis told NTX Inno. “When you’re a little kid, it’s more about launching for fun. But really anyone can ignite and launch a rocket; what’s different is when you can prove the mathematics behind it.”
Set to launch in mid-January, a date that has been pushed back from last summer due to the pandemic, Hummin’s focus is on providing workshops and training courses about space law, history, culture and engineering. But instead of learning these things from a lecture, Hummin teaches through create-your-own rocket kits.
Hummin Group’s rockets can fly higher than those found at the local hobby store to help students grow their knowledge through their academic careers. The company has a permit for its Serenity 1 rocket, which can reach up to 2,000 feet, from the National Association of Rocketry. Dennis has also applied for a provisional patent for that rocket.
“We want to help increase the amount of STEM majors in our country by inspiring more people to pursue science, and then in doing so, we’ll increase the amount of talent available for the space industry,” Dennis said.
The company recently got a small boost in funding at the Dallas leg of the Global Student Entrepreneur Awards competition, taking home the third-place prize. Along with funding from other competitions and money Dennis has invested in the business, that brought Hummin’s total to about $21,0000.
Dennis said he always knew he wanted to work in the space industry. However, Hummin is not how he first thought that would happen. Initially, Dennis planned to become a pilot. Then, an incident while training grounded that chance.
“I was on my way, and I was training to be a pilot. One day, flying over Fort Worth, I got very dizzy, and I almost passed out. The instructor had to land the plane for me,” Dennis said. “So, the next best thing to being an astronaut, I thought was to start my own space company.”
After that, Dennis switched majors from engineering to entrepreneurship, allowing him to focus on running the business, along with four other engineer friends. Although Dennis said he still teaches himself all of the rocketry science Hummin uses on his own.
With its launch, Hummin will be focusing on partnering with local organizations and educational institutions in Tarrant County for its online classes and workshops, which Dennis said he hopes will eventually be considered a pre-college "Introduction to Engineering" course. It will also be shipping out its DIY rocket kits in the region.
Dennis said he plans to focus Hummin’s efforts in Tarrant County before expanding to the greater DFW area and all of Texas.
“I would love to impact as many students as possible in a positive manner, but I’m also still a college student myself,” Dennis said.
He said he hopes that through Hummin’s work, more students can develop an interest in space and science, helping them land better educational and internship opportunities and potentially fostering a new wave of innovation in the industry. Plus, Dennis jokes that maybe this newer technology will eventually help him reach his goal of making it to the stars.
“I really believe that if we have an army of high school students training in rigorous math courses, it’s a lot more probable that we're going to have a… Mars base or space habitats,” he said.
