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For Aditya-L1, the year 2026 is expected to be truly unique.

This marks the initial occasion the spacecraft – which was placed into space recently – can observe our star when it reaches the peak of its solar cycle.

According to research, it comes approximately once every 11 years as the Sun's polarity reverses – the Earth equivalent could be the planet's poles swapping positions.

It's a time of great turbulence. It involves the Sun changing from peaceful to violent and is marked by a huge increase in the number of solar storms and massive solar flares – massive bubbles of plasma that blow out of the Sun's outermost layer.

Composed of ionized particles, a coronal mass ejection can weigh of billions of tons and can attain a speed of up to 3,000km each second. It can head out toward various directions, including towards the Earth. At maximum velocity, the journey takes an ejection 15 hours to cover the 150 million km between Earth and the Sun.

"In the normal or quiet periods, our star launches a few solar eruptions a day," says a leading scientist. "In 2026, we expect them to be 10 or more each day."

Researching CMEs is one of the most important scientific objectives of India's maiden solar mission. One, because the ejections offer a chance to learn about the Sun in the center of our solar system, and secondly, since events occurring on the solar surface endanger systems on our planet and in space.

Impacts on Earth and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections rarely pose a direct threat to people, but they do affect life on Earth through generating magnetic disturbances that impact conditions in near space, where nearly 11,000 satellites, comprising many from India, orbit.

"The most spectacular manifestations from solar eruptions are auroras, which are direct evidence that solar particles from Sun are travelling to Earth," the expert clarifies.

"However, they may make all the electronics on a satellite malfunction, disable power grids and disrupt weather and communication satellites."

Historical Solar Events

• The most powerful solar event in history occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled communication systems worldwide
• In 1989, sections of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, affecting six million people in darkness for nine hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disrupted air traffic control, causing disruption in Sweden and some other European airports
• Recently in 2022, a CME had led to dozens of spacecraft being lost

With capability to observe what happens in the solar atmosphere and detect solar activity or a coronal mass ejection in real time, record its temperature at the source and track its path, it can work as advanced warning to shut down electrical systems and satellites and move them out of harm's way.

The Mission's Special Capability

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

"The instrument is the exact size that lets it nearly mimic the Moon, fully covering the solar disk and allowing it continuous observation of nearly the entire of the corona 24 hours a day, throughout the year, including during solar events," says the expert.

Essentially, this instrument functions as an artificial Moon, obscuring the solar glare allowing scientists continuously observe its faint outer corona – something natural eclipses does only during specific moments.

Moreover, this is the only mission that can study solar events using optical wavelengths, enabling it to determine a CME's temperature and thermal output – key clues that show how strong of an eruption if it headed toward Earth.

Readiness for Peak Period

In preparation for next year's solar maximum, researchers worked together analyzing the data obtained from a major solar eruption that Aditya-L1 has recorded until now.

This event began in September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. Its mass was 270 million tonnes – 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 explosives – relative to the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were 15 kilotons and 21 kilotons each.

Although the numbers seem incredibly large, the expert classifies it as a "medium-sized" one.

The space rock that eliminated the dinosaurs on Earth carried enormous energy and during solar peak occurs, there may be eruptions carrying power equal to even more than that.

"In my view this eruption we analyzed happened during periods of typical solar activity. This establishes the standard that we'll be using assessing what is in store when the maximum activity cycle occurs," he says.

"The insights from this will help us work out the countermeasures to be adopted safeguarding satellites in near space. Additionally, they'll aid us gain a better understanding of our space environment," he adds.