Center for Research and Exploration
in Space Science & Technology

The team of the University of Maryland, College Park, the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and the Universities Space Research Association has been selected by the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center to establish and operate the Center for Research and Exploration in Space Science and Technology (CRESST). CRESST brings together NASA/Goddard researchers and scientists from the Maryland campuses and USRA to build upon the many capabilities and strengths in space science of the participating organizations. CRESST researchers are initially focusing on the study of neutron stars, black holes, and extremely hot gas throughout the universe. The Center also works to increase the involvement of minority and women scientists in space science research and to facilitate university student participation in such research.

Simulation of sky as observed
by the LAT on GLAST.

CRESST operates an office on-site at GSFC to provide comprehensive support to GSFC and CRESST scientists to recruit new scientists, run student programs, assist with new science proposals, as well as handle visitors, scientific meetings, and summer schools. Quality science and effective collaboration are the top priorities for our team as we develop the Center. The robust and wide ranging space science programs of the university partnership and effective management of the Center will enable CRESST to achieve outstanding collaborative space science research and to extend the capabilities of the Goddard Space Flight Center.

CRESST Partners

University of Maryland, College Park

Through its highly regarded departments of astronomy and physics, the University of Maryland, College Park brings to this collaboration internationally recognized expertise in many areas of space science, including high-energy astrophysics, galaxy structure and dynamics, star formation, planetary science, space physics, gravitational theory and particle astrophysics. UMD has a long history of collaboration with Goddard in research and educational programs. The UMD Department of Astronomy, to which CRESST is directly connected, has the mission of achieving excellence in research, teaching, outreach and service in the areas of astronomy and astrophysics. We maintain internationally recognized theoretical, observational, and computational programs that cover the entire electromagnetic spectrum from radio waves to gamma rays and address fundamental questions on all scales from our solar system to the entire cosmos.
» UMD Department of Astronomy

University of Maryland, Baltimore County

UMBC is ranked 13th nationally among all universities in research funding received from NASA. UMBC is home to several other multimillion-dollar NASA research centers in collaboration with the Goddard Space Flight Center, including the Goddard Earth Sciences and Technology (GEST) Center, the Joint Center for Earth Systems and Technology (JCET), the Center for the Advanced Study of Photonics Research (CASPR) and the Joint Center for Astrophysics (JCA). The JCA brings additional internationally-recognized astrophysicists to the CRESST collaboration, especially in the area of high-energy astrophysics.
» University of Maryland, Baltimore County

Universities Space Research Association

The Universities Space Research Association (USRA), with headquarters in Columbia Maryland, is a national consortium of 100 universities established in 1969 by the National Academy of Sciences. USRA operates programs and facilities in space-related science, technology, and related education. USRA has been an important participant in space science at NASA Goddard for many years, working alongside NASA researchers in conducting space science research, leading-edge instrumentation and technology development, and effectively communicating space science news and information to the educational community and the general public. It has also long played a key role in handling S&T professional and student visitors to the Center.
» Universities Space Research Association

NASA Science & Exploration Directorate

The GSFC Sciences and Exploration Directorate provides scientific and technology development leadership within NASA, as well as the international research community, in many broad areas related to Earth and Space Sciences. SED initiates programs, conducted in conjunction with universities, other US government agencies/laboratories, and international institutions, in the study of the Earth-Sun system, the solar system and the origins of life, and the birth and evolution of the universe.
» Science & Exploration Directorate

Astrophysics Science Division - GSFC's Astrophysics Science Division (ASD) is where most of the current CRESST activity is focused. ASD conducts a broad program of theoretical, observational, instrument development, and scientific analysis to help NASA achieve its strategic science goals, e.g., how do galaxies, stars, and planetary systems form and evolve, which planets might harbor life, and what is Dark Energy? There are four laboratories within ASD, covering Astroparticle Physics, X-ray Astrophysics, Gravitational Astrophysics, Observational Cosmology, and Exoplanets & Stellar Astrophysics.
» Astrophysics Science Division

Heliophysics Science Division - This GSFC Division focuses it's research in the areas of solar physics, heliospheric physics, geospace physics and space weather. Within these disciplines, Division staff members develop theoretical and/or scientific mission concepts, build and fly instruments, analyze data – in comparison with coupled models and/or phenomenological simulations, analyze and publish the results. Scientists also participate in communicating the excitement of their work to the academic community and the general public.
» Heliophysics Science Division