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Regarding Aditya-L1, 2026 will be like no other.

It's the first time the spacecraft – that entered in orbit recently – will be able to observe our star during the peak of its solar cycle.

As per research, this occurs approximately once every 11 years as the Sun's polarity reverses – the Earth equivalent would be the planet's poles changing places.

This period of great turbulence. It sees our star transition from calm to stormy and features a significant rise in the number of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – enormous clouds of plasma that erupt of the Sun's outermost layer.

Made up of charged particles, a coronal mass ejection can weigh up to a trillion kilograms and reach velocities of up to 3,000km each second. It can travel in any direction, including towards the Earth. At top speed, the journey takes a CME about half a day to traverse the 150 million km Earth-Sun distance.

"During typical or quiet periods, the Sun launches a few solar eruptions daily," says a leading scientist. "In 2026, we expect them to be 10 or more each day."

Researching CMEs is one of the key research goals of India's maiden solar mission. Firstly, as these eruptions offer a chance to study the star at the centre of our planetary system, and two, because activities that take place on the solar surface endanger infrastructure on Earth and in orbit.

Effects on Earth and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections seldom present a direct threat to people, but they do affect life on Earth through generating magnetic disturbances that impact the weather in Earth's vicinity, where nearly thousands of spacecraft, comprising Indian satellites, orbit.

"The most spectacular manifestations from solar eruptions are auroras, which are a clear example that solar particles from our star journey toward our planet," the expert clarifies.

"However, they may cause electronic systems on a satellite malfunction, knock down power grids and disrupt meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Past Solar Events

• The most powerful solar event in history occurred during the Carrington Event that disabled telegraph lines across the globe
• In 1989, sections of Canadian electrical network was knocked out, affecting six million people in darkness for nine hours
• In November 2015, solar storms disturbed air traffic control, causing disruption in Sweden and various European air hubs
• In February 2022, a CME had led to dozens of spacecraft being lost

If we are able to observe events on the Sun's corona and spot solar activity or a coronal mass ejection as it happens, record its temperature at origin and track its trajectory, it can work as a forewarning to shut down power grids and spacecraft and move them to safety.

Aditya-L1's Unique Advantage

There are other solar missions watching the Sun, India's spacecraft has an advantage over others when it comes to watching the corona.

"The instrument is the exact size enabling it to nearly mimic lunar coverage, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere permitting an uninterrupted view of nearly the entire solar atmosphere 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, including during eclipses and occultations," notes the researcher.

Essentially, the coronagraph functions as an artificial Moon, blocking the Sun's bright surface allowing researchers constantly study the dim solar atmosphere – something natural eclipses provide only during specific moments.

Additionally, this is the only mission that can study solar events in visible light, enabling it to measure a CME's temperature and heat energy – crucial data that show the intensity of an eruption if it headed our direction.

Readiness for Maximum Activity

In preparation for the upcoming peak solar activity period, researchers collaborated analyzing the data obtained from a major CMEs that Aditya-L1 has observed recently.

It originated in September 2024 during early hours. Its mass totaled billions of tons – for comparison that sank Titanic was 1.5 million tonnes.

At origin, its temperature was 1.8 million degrees Celsius with energy equivalent comparable to 2.2 million megatons of TNT – relative to nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were 15 kilotons in scale respectively.

Although the numbers make it sound massive, the expert classifies it as a "medium-sized" one.

The asteroid that eliminated prehistoric life on our planet was 100 million megatons and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, there may be eruptions with energy content matching greater levels.

"In my view the CME we analyzed to have occurred when the Sun was in the normal activity phase. Now this sets the standard for future comparison assessing what to expect during solar maximum occurs," he states.

"The learnings gained will help us work out protective measures to implement safeguarding satellites in near space. They will also help us gain a better understanding of our space environment," he adds.