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

It's the first time the spacecraft – which was placed in orbit last year – will be able to observe our star during its maximum activity cycle.

According to scientific data, this occurs roughly once every 11 years when the Sun's magnetic poles flip – a similar Earth scenario could be the planet's poles changing places.

It's a time marked by intense activity. It involves our star changing from peaceful to violent and features a huge increase in the frequency of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – massive bubbles of plasma that blow out of the Sun's outermost layer.

Composed of charged particles, a coronal mass ejection can weigh of billions of tons and reach velocities exceeding 2,000 miles per second. It can head out toward various directions, even toward our planet. At top speed, it would take an ejection about half a day to traverse the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"During typical or low-activity times, the Sun launches a few solar eruptions daily," says a leading scientist. "In 2026, it's anticipated there will be over ten daily."

Studying coronal mass ejections ranks among the most important research goals of India's maiden solar mission. One, because the ejections provide an opportunity to study the star at the centre of our solar system, and secondly, since events occurring on the Sun threaten infrastructure on Earth and in space.

Effects on Earth and Space Infrastructure

Coronal mass ejections seldom present a direct threat to human life, yet they impact our planet by causing geomagnetic storms affecting conditions in Earth's vicinity, where about thousands of spacecraft, including Indian satellites, are stationed.

"The most spectacular manifestations of a CME include northern lights, which are direct evidence that charged particles from our star are travelling toward our planet," the expert explains.

"But they can also cause electronic systems aboard spacecraft malfunction, disable electrical networks and affect weather and communication satellites."

Historical Solar Incidents

• The strongest solar storm in history occurred during the Carrington Event that disabled telegraph lines worldwide
• In 1989, sections of Canadian electrical network was knocked out, leaving millions without power for hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disrupted flight operations, causing chaos in Sweden and some other European air hubs
• Recently in 2022, a CME had led to 38 commercial satellites being lost

If we are able to observe events on the Sun's corona and spot a solar storm or a coronal mass ejection in real time, measure its heat at the source and track its trajectory, it can work as advanced warning to switch off power grids and satellites redirecting them out of harm's way.

Aditya-L1's Special Capability

While other solar missions observing our star, India's spacecraft holds an edge compared to rivals regarding studying the solar atmosphere.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph is the exact size enabling it to effectively simulate the Moon, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere and allowing it continuous observation of nearly the entire solar atmosphere 24 hours a day, throughout the year, including during solar events," says the expert.

Essentially, this instrument acts like an artificial Moon, blocking the Sun's bright surface to let researchers constantly study its faint outer corona – a feat natural eclipses does only during specific moments.

Additionally, this is the only mission capable of examining eruptions in visible light, letting it measure a CME's temperature and heat energy – crucial data indicating how strong a CME would be when traveling toward Earth.

Readiness for Peak Period

To prepare for the upcoming solar maximum, scientists worked together to study information gathered from one of the largest solar eruption recorded by the mission has observed recently.

It originated in September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. The eruption's weight was 270 million tonnes – for comparison that sank Titanic was 1.5 million tonnes.

At origin, its temperature was 1.8 million degrees Celsius and the energy content comparable to millions of tons of explosives – relative to the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were 15 kilotons and 21 kilotons each.

Although these figures make it sound incredibly large, the expert describes it as a moderate event.

The asteroid that eliminated prehistoric life on our planet carried enormous energy and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see CMEs carrying power matching even more than that.

"In my view this eruption we analyzed happened when the Sun of typical solar activity. Now this sets the standard that we'll be using assessing what to expect when the maximum activity cycle arrives," he says.

"The insights gained will help us developing the countermeasures to be adopted safeguarding satellites in near space. Additionally, they'll aid us gain deeper knowledge of near-Earth space," he adds.