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For Aditya-L1, 2026 is expected to be like no other.

This marks the initial occasion the spacecraft – which was placed into space last year – can watch the Sun when it reaches the peak of its solar cycle.

As per scientific data, it comes approximately once every 11 years as the Sun's magnetic poles flip – a similar Earth scenario could be the North and South poles changing places.

This period of great turbulence. It sees the Sun changing from peaceful to violent and is marked by a significant rise in the number of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – enormous clouds of fire that erupt from the solar corona.

Composed of charged particles, a coronal mass ejection may have a mass of billions of tons and can attain a speed of up to 3,000km per second. It can head out in any direction, even toward our planet. At maximum velocity, the journey takes a CME 15 hours to cover the vast distance between Earth and the Sun.

"During typical or quiet periods, our star launches a few solar eruptions a day," explains a leading scientist. "Next year, it's anticipated there will be over ten daily."

Studying coronal mass ejections ranks among the key research goals for the Indian maiden solar mission. Firstly, because the ejections provide an opportunity to learn about the star at the centre of our planetary system, and secondly, because activities that take place on the Sun endanger infrastructure on our planet and in orbit.

Effects on Our Planet and Orbital Systems

CMEs seldom present immediate danger to human life, but they do affect our planet by causing geomagnetic storms affecting conditions in near space, where nearly 11,000 satellites, including Indian satellites, are stationed.

"The most spectacular displays from solar eruptions include northern lights, being a clear example that solar particles from Sun are travelling toward our planet," the scientist clarifies.

"However, they may make all the electronics aboard spacecraft fail, disable electrical networks and affect meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Past Solar Events

• The strongest solar event in history occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out communication systems across the globe
• In 1989, a part of Canadian electrical network was knocked out, affecting millions in darkness for nine hours
• In November 2015, solar storms disrupted air traffic control, leading to disruption in Sweden and some other European air hubs
• In February 2022, a CME caused dozens of spacecraft being lost

If we are able to see what happens on the Sun's corona and spot a solar storm or solar eruption as it happens, record its temperature at origin and track its path, it can work as a forewarning to shut down electrical systems and satellites and move them to safety.

Aditya-L1's Unique Advantage

While other solar missions observing the Sun, India's spacecraft has an advantage over others when it comes to studying the solar atmosphere.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph is the exact size that lets it nearly mimic lunar coverage, completely blocking the solar disk permitting continuous observation of almost all solar atmosphere around the clock, 365 days a year, including during solar events," says the expert.

Essentially, this instrument acts like a synthetic eclipse, obscuring the Sun's bright surface to let researchers constantly study its faint outer corona – a feat the real Moon provide only during eclipses.

Moreover, this is the only mission that can study solar events using optical wavelengths, letting it determine a CME's temperature and thermal output – crucial data indicating the intensity a CME would be if it headed toward Earth.

Readiness for Peak Period

In preparation for next year's solar maximum, scientists worked together to study information gathered from a major solar eruption that Aditya-L1 has observed recently.

This event began in September 2024 during early hours. Its mass totaled billions of tons – for comparison that struck the ship weighed much less.

Initially, its temperature was 1.8 million degrees Celsius and the energy content comparable to 2.2 million megatons of TNT – in comparison nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were 15 kilotons and 21 kilotons respectively.

Although these figures make it sound incredibly large, the scientist classifies it as a moderate event.

The space rock which wiped out prehistoric life on our planet was 100 million megatons and when solar peak occurs, there may be eruptions with energy content matching even more than that.

"In my view this eruption we analyzed happened during periods was in the normal activity phase. This establishes the benchmark for future comparison assessing what is in store when the maximum activity cycle arrives," he says.

"The learnings gained will help us work out the countermeasures to be adopted safeguarding spacecraft in orbit. They will also help us gain a better understanding of our space environment," he concludes.