Established in July 2008, Explore Scientific LLC was founded to make astronomy, microscopy, and exploration of nature accessible and affordable. The company's brands include EXPLORE SCIENTIFIC, ALPEN, EXPLORE ONE, EXPLORE HUT, and GALILEOSCOPE. Explore Scientific is a distributor of products from BRESSER (Germany) and PULSAR OBSERVATORIES (UK). In addition, Explore Scientific is an official licensee for National Geographic, Discovery, and PBS.
Explore Scientific helps the general public experience the adventure, wonder, and excitement of scientific exploration by designing, building, and selling telescopes, spotting scopes, binoculars, and microscopes that are high-quality, durable, and affordable. The company engages its audience through participation in recognition programs, awards, workshops, and expeditions.
Aaron Peters host of Northwest Arkansas Alive goes on an inside tour of Explore Scientific's facilities in Springdale, Arkansas in February of 2020. The company designs and manufactures telescopes, spotting scopes, binoculars, microscopes, and other scientific devices.
History
In 2008, Scott W. Roberts decided to follow his passion for consumer optics manufacturing by starting his own company. Explore Scientific LLC began with a relationship between Jinghua Optical Corporation (JOC) in Guangzhou, China and Scott operated the company from his home in Laguna Hills, CA. JOC is a leader in Asia’s optical manufacturing field and manufactures many of Explore Scientific's products. On July 19th, 2008 Roberts announced his return to the telescope manufacturing industry with the launch of Explore Scientific, LLC during the annual Astronomical League's Awards Banquet in Des Moines, Iowa.
In 2010, Explore Scientific relocated to Northwest Arkansas to establish an office and a small warehouse in Bentonville. In 2012, Robert Price joined forces with Scott and established a formal partnership and is COO of Explore Scientific. Robert's long experience in sales and product development strengthened our mass merchant sales channels and products for our Explore One, National Geographic and Discovery brands. Business quickly expanded and the company made several moves. In March of 2017, the company officially moved to its present-day location in Springdale and now occupies 60,000 square feet of showroom, warehouse and office space.Since the beginning, Explore Scientific has been on a mission to make astronomy accessible and provide a truly transformative experience by giving enthusiasts of all skill levels the tools and guidance they need to explore the skies. The company focuses on building its reputation in the astronomy community by designing high quality telescopes and premium eyepieces that quickly grew to demanding standards of clarity, contrast and functionality.
Explore Scientific branched out into other areas of the optics industry thanks in large part to strategic partnerships. In 2009, we began a mutually beneficial relationship with BRESSER, a Germany-based company that has grown since its 1957 inception to become a leader in Europe’s optics industry. Through this collaboration, Explore Scientific became the exclusive distributor of BRESSER products throughout the Americas and expanded our offerings to include binoculars, microscopes, riflescopes, laser rangefinders, game cameras and other instruments for both outdoor sports and science enthusiasts.
The present-day business structure has changed with Explore Scientific LLC becoming a wholly owned subsidiary with USA ownership under Journey North. Today's 60,000 square foot operation in Springdale, Arkansas include sales, design, marketing, distribution, and light manufacturing. With its sharp growth trajectory and multi-national design group we continue to advance the standards of consumer optics with our proven technology and application competence along with our resources in China, Germany and the US.