Canada Bets on Tiny Stars to Find Earth-Sized Worlds with New POET Mission
Canada is proposing the POET mission, a microsatellite survey targeting ultracool dwarfs (the galaxy’s smallest, dimmest stars) to detect Earth-sized exoplanets (1–2.5 R⊕) via transits. By focusing on about 100–300 nearby stars from a larger catalog and using a 20 cm telescope across multiple wavelengths, POET aims for a one-year observing campaign that could deliver higher sensitivity than earlier missions and enable atmospheric studies and biosignature checks on newly found worlds.
