Farming data from space: where water flows and crops grow NASA's fleet of satellites helps scientists track water use from space. This allows scientists to see how irrigation changes over the years, calculate how much water is used to irrigate crops, Scientists can even monitor changes in rain snowfall, and soil moisture to estimate how our water supply shifts from year to year. This information helps farmers grow more crops with less water. With Landsat's 48 years of agricultural data, scientists can predict yield for crops like Cotton Rice Soy Corn Wheat Even though the Landsat satellites orbit 438 miles above the Earth, farmers can analyze individual fields to figure out when crops will be ready to harvest. Red areas peak early, blue areas peak late. With Landsat data, we can learn about the Earth how it sustains us, and how to cultivate it.