Canada Proposes POET Mission to Identify Earth-Sized Exoplanets Around Ultracool Dwarfs
Canada is developing a new micro-satellite mission named POET (Photometric Observations of Exoplanet Transits) aimed at discovering Earth-sized and super-Earth exoplanets. The mission will focus on stars smaller and cooler than the sun, known as ultracool dwarfs, which include K-type, M-type, and brown dwarf stars. These stars are significantly smaller than the sun, making the detection of transiting exoplanets easier due to a larger planet-to-star size ratio. POET will utilize a 20-cm telescope capable of imaging in near-ultraviolet, visible near-infrared, and short-wavelength infrared. The mission builds on previous Canadian space missions, MOST and NEOSSat, and is expected to launch in 2029. Researchers have narrowed down potential targets to 100-300 ultracool dwarfs within 100 parsecs from Earth, with the goal of identifying exoplanets with orbital periods between 7-50 days. 
