Soil moisture data products retrieved from remote sensing microwave satellites are subject to a statistically rigorous evaluation to determine uncertainties quantitatively, and for checking consistency to reference data at globally representative locations and time periods. This qualifies them for stage 3 of the CEOS validation hierarchy, though the evaluation process is manual and takes about one year of time after the product release. The goal of this project is to explore the feasibility of reaching the final stage 4 of the CEOS validation hierarchy, defined as follows: “Validation results for stage 3 are systematically updated when new product versions are released and as the timeseries expands.” Previous attempts to solve the problem on the drawing board did not succeed, therefore, this project aims to perform systematic experiments and studies by setting up a testbed for statistical and technical evaluations, in order to make a first step towards an automatic validation service for soil moisture. The project is crucial for the Quality Assurance for Soil Moisture (QA4SM) programme by EODC in the light of their operational Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), via the provision of Earth Observation (EO) derived Soil Moisture Essential Climate Variable (ECV) products and their support to the C3S Evaluation and Quality Control (EQC) functions.