NASA Data Power New USDA Soil Moisture Portal People looking to plant crops now have a new planning tool in their toolbox thanks to soil moisture data collected by NASA’s Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) mission. Credit: NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team By Teresa White, Jane Lee, and Jessica Merzdorf, USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service / NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory / NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center In Brief: This tool provides information that will help people track droughts or floods, make plans for when to plant crops, and forecast agricultural yields.