The COROT space telescope, designed to search for planets not much bigger than Earth, launched into space at 1423 GMT on Wednesday from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The mission is expected to provide a better understanding of planets smaller than Saturn, of which only a small number of examples are known so far. The vast majority of the more than 200 extrasolar planets found to date have been detected from the ground by watching for the slight gravitational tug they exert on their parent stars, called the radial velocity technique. Most of these planets are similar in mass to Jupiter or even heavier, because these „gas giants“ are the easiest to detect. But the new telescope, called COnvection ROtation and planetary Transits (COROT), will be able to detect much smaller planets. The COROT mission is led by France’s Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES) with participation from the European Space Agency (ESA). COROT will start its scientific observing campaign around the end of January 2007, after mission managers have tested its instruments to make sure everything is working properly. The entire mission is scheduled to last two-and-a-half years.

COROT on its way