For U.S. farmers and ranchers, NASA describes ongoing measurements of water and crop health alongside wildfire predictions and information about what is grown around the world. Karen St. Germain, director of NASA’s Earth Science Division, says the data informs decisions at the field level, with effects reaching commodity trading and grocery stores. [S1]
Governments at federal, state, local and international levels also use NASA data and tools to monitor and manage land, air and water resources, the agency says. Its examples range from mapping the ocean floor and identifying critical mineral deposits to alerting land managers to high fire risk. [S1]
A planned NASA partnership with the Indian Space Research Organisation would add another way to watch the land. As of April 21, 2025, the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar mission, or NISAR, was targeted to launch later that year. NASA said its radar would detect surface movements as small as 0.4 inches across areas about half the size of a tennis court, supporting work that includes disaster response and groundwater monitoring. [S1]
Source documents
- Celebrating Earth as Only NASA Canhttps://www.nasa.gov/earth/earth-day/celebrating-earth-as-only-nasa-can/