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Regarding Aditya-L1, 2026 is expected to be truly unique.

It's the first time the observatory – that entered in orbit last year – will be able to observe our star when it reaches its maximum activity cycle.

According to research, this occurs approximately every 11 years when the Sun's polarity reverses – the Earth equivalent would be the planet's poles swapping positions.

It's a time marked by intense activity. It involves the Sun transition from peaceful to violent and is marked by a significant rise in the frequency of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – enormous clouds of plasma that erupt from the solar corona.

Made up of ionized particles, a coronal mass ejection can weigh up to a trillion kilograms and can attain velocities of up to 3,000km each second. It can travel in any direction, including towards our planet. At top speed, it would take an ejection 15 hours to cover the 150 million km Earth-Sun distance.

"During typical or quiet periods, the Sun emits a few solar eruptions daily," explains a leading scientist. "In 2026, we expect there will be over ten daily."

Studying CMEs is one of the most important scientific objectives for the Indian maiden solar mission. Firstly, as these eruptions provide an opportunity to learn about the star in the center of our planetary system, and secondly, because activities occurring on the Sun threaten infrastructure on our planet and in orbit.

Impacts on Our Planet and Space Infrastructure

CMEs rarely pose immediate danger to human life, but they do affect life on Earth through generating magnetic disturbances affecting conditions in near space, where about thousands of spacecraft, including Indian satellites, are stationed.

"The most beautiful manifestations of a CME include northern lights, which are direct evidence that solar particles from Sun are travelling toward our planet," the expert clarifies.

"However, they may make all the electronics aboard spacecraft malfunction, disable power grids and disrupt weather and communication satellites."

Past Solar Incidents

• The strongest solar event in history was the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled communication systems worldwide
• During 1989, sections of Quebec's power grid failed, leaving millions in darkness for nine hours
• In November 2015, solar storms disrupted air traffic control, leading to disruption across Scandinavia and some other European airports
• In February 2022, an ejection had led to 38 commercial satellites being lost

If we are able to observe what happens on the Sun's corona and spot a solar storm or solar eruption as it happens, measure its heat at origin and track its path, this serves as advanced warning to shut down electrical systems and satellites redirecting them out of harm's way.

The Mission's Special Capability

There are other space observatories observing our star, India's spacecraft has an advantage compared to rivals regarding studying the solar atmosphere.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph has perfect dimensions enabling it to nearly mimic lunar coverage, fully covering the Sun's photosphere permitting continuous observation of nearly the entire of the corona around the clock, 365 days a year, including during solar events," notes the researcher.

In other words, this instrument functions as a synthetic eclipse, blocking the solar glare allowing scientists constantly study its faint outer corona – a feat natural eclipses provide only during specific moments.

Moreover, this is the only mission that can study eruptions in visible light, enabling it to measure eruption heat and heat energy – key clues indicating how strong a CME would be when traveling toward Earth.

Readiness for Peak Period

To prepare for next year's solar maximum, researchers worked together to study information obtained from one of the largest solar eruption recorded by the mission has recorded until now.

It originated in September 2024 during early hours. The eruption's weight totaled billions of tons – the iceberg that struck the ship was 1.5 million tonnes.

At origin, its temperature was 1.8 million degrees Celsius and the energy content was equivalent to 2.2 million megatons of explosives – in comparison the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller and 21 kilotons respectively.

Even though the numbers seem incredibly large, the scientist classifies it as a "medium-sized" one.

The space rock that eliminated prehistoric life on our planet carried enormous energy and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, there may be eruptions with energy content equal to even more than that.

"In my view the CME we analyzed happened during periods was in the normal activity phase. This establishes the benchmark that we'll be using to evaluate what to expect during solar maximum occurs," he says.

"The learnings from this will assist in work out the countermeasures to implement safeguarding spacecraft in orbit. Additionally, they'll aid achieving a better understanding of near-Earth space," he concludes.