The large number of disks surrounding young forming stars as well as the
recent detections of massive extra-solar planets suggest that planetary
formation commonly occurs. The next challenge is clearly the detection of
Earth-like planets. From the ground their detection is likely to remain
problematic due to the very low masses and luminosities inferred, whereas
space observations enable these detections. The french space mission COROT
(COnvection & CORotation) originally devoted to asteroseismology, is also
particularly well adapted for the detection of low-mass objects, using the
method of stellar occultations. Due to its high photometric accuracy, a few
tens of detections can be expected over the mission life time, assuming that
about 50% of stars possess an Earth-like planet.
