  CoRoT, which was launched successfully on the 27th of December 2006, is the
first space mission to have the search for planetary transits at the heart of
its science programme. It is expected to be able to detect transits of planets
with radii down to approximately two Earth radii and periods up to
approximately a month. Thus, CoRoT will explore the hereto uncharted area of
parameter space which spans the transition between the gaseous giant planets
discovered in large numbers from the ground, and terrestrial planets more akin
to our own. This papers briefly sketches out the main technical characteristics
of the mission before summarising estimates of its detection potential and
presenting the data analysis and follow-up strategy.
