The TOTEM experiment is designed to measure forward physics processes 
during the early running periods of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at
CERN.  By detecting >90% of all the leading protons produced in
diffractive 
processes TOTEM will open up new physics possibilities which are not 
available in the base line general purpose experiments. In addition to
the
total pp cross section and elastic scattering, TOTEM will - together
with 
the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) experiment - study single, double and 
central diffractive event topologies in detail.  Possibilities for Higgs
detection and for a Gluon Factory are also considered.