On Oct. 8, 2026, the European Space Agency (ESA) said Earth Virtual Expert (EVE), its question-and-answer platform for Earth observation and Earth sciences, was live for interested users. ESA also said EVE’s model, code, curated training datasets and benchmarks were publicly available.
What EVE answers and where its information comes from
ESA describes EVE as a large language model adapted to Earth observation and Earth sciences. It is designed to make complex research and information easier to find and understand through a question-and-answer format.
The platform’s described source base is text. ESA names its own websites, NASA and Copernicus websites, manuscripts, and peer-reviewed research accessed through a collaboration with Wiley. ESA Φ-lab, Pi School, Mistral and Imperative Space are identified as development partners.
How EVE retrieves and reviews information
ESA says EVE uses retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), a method that searches for additional material and brings relevant information into a response. That includes recent Wiley articles, according to ESA.
ESA also describes an “LLM-as-a-judge” feature that reviews generated responses and helps flag material for revision or filtering. It is a review safeguard, not an accuracy guarantee.
ESA’s plans for EVE
By September 2026, EVE had entered its second development phase, according to ESA. Planned work included retrieving and analyzing Earth-observation data and carrying out multi-step tasks, with environmental data, weather reports and numerical models among the areas described.
ESA planned satellite-imagery search and presentation for 2027. EVE was developed under the Foresight element of ESA’s FutureEO programme.
