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Regarding Aditya-L1, 2026 will be truly unique.

This marks the initial occasion the spacecraft – that entered in orbit recently – can watch the Sun during the peak of its solar cycle.

According to scientific data, this occurs approximately once every 11 years when the Sun's polarity reverses – the Earth equivalent would be the North and South poles changing places.

It's a time of great turbulence. It sees the Sun transition from calm to stormy and features a significant rise in the number of solar storms and massive solar flares – enormous clouds of fire that erupt from the solar corona.

Composed of charged particles, a coronal mass ejection can weigh up to a trillion kilograms and reach velocities exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can travel toward various directions, even toward the Earth. At maximum velocity, it would take an ejection about half a day to traverse the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"During typical or low-activity times, our star emits two to three CMEs a day," says a leading scientist. "In 2026, it's anticipated there will be 10 or more daily."

Studying CMEs is one of the key scientific objectives of India's first solar observatory. Firstly, because the ejections provide an opportunity to study the star in the center of our planetary system, and two, because activities that take place on the solar surface threaten systems on our planet and in orbit.

Impacts on Earth and Orbital Systems

CMEs seldom present a direct threat to people, yet they impact our planet through generating magnetic disturbances affecting the weather in Earth's vicinity, where about 11,000 satellites, including Indian satellites, are stationed.

"The most beautiful manifestations of a CME are auroras, which are a clear example that charged particles from Sun are travelling toward our planet," the scientist clarifies.

"But they can also cause electronic systems aboard spacecraft malfunction, knock down power grids and disrupt weather and communication satellites."

Historical Solar Events

• The strongest solar event in history was the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled telegraph lines across the globe
• During 1989, sections of Canadian electrical network failed, affecting millions without power for nine hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disrupted air traffic control, causing disruption across Scandinavia and some other European air hubs
• In February 2022, a CME had led to 38 commercial satellites being lost

If we are able to observe what happens on the Sun's corona and spot solar activity or solar eruption as it happens, measure its heat at the source and track its path, this serves as a forewarning to shut down electrical systems and satellites and move them to safety.

Aditya-L1's Special Capability

There are other solar missions watching the Sun, India's spacecraft holds an edge compared to rivals regarding watching the corona.

"The instrument has perfect dimensions that lets it nearly mimic the Moon, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere and allowing it continuous observation of almost all solar atmosphere 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, including during eclipses and occultations," notes the expert.

In other words, this instrument acts like a synthetic eclipse, obscuring the Sun's bright surface allowing researchers constantly study the dim solar atmosphere – something natural eclipses does only during specific moments.

Additionally, this is the only mission capable of examining solar events in visible light, letting it measure a CME's temperature and thermal output – crucial data that show the intensity a CME would be when traveling toward Earth.

Preparation for Maximum Activity

In preparation for next year's peak solar activity period, scientists collaborated to study information gathered from one of the largest CMEs that Aditya-L1 has recorded until now.

This event began on 13 September 2024 during early hours. Its mass was 270 million tonnes – the iceberg that struck the ship was 1.5 million tonnes.

At origin, the heat was 1.8 million degrees Celsius with energy equivalent comparable to millions of tons of explosives – in comparison nuclear weapons used in Japan were 15 kilotons in scale each.

Even though these figures seem incredibly large, the scientist describes it as a moderate event.

The space rock that eliminated the dinosaurs on our planet carried enormous energy and during the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see eruptions with energy content matching even more than that.

"In my view the CME we evaluated happened when the Sun of typical solar activity. Now this sets the standard for future comparison assessing what to expect during solar maximum occurs," he states.

"The learnings from this will assist in work out the countermeasures to implement safeguarding satellites in orbit. They will also help us gain a better understanding of near-Earth space," he adds.