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For Aditya-L1, 2026 is expected to be like no other.

This marks the initial occasion the spacecraft – that entered in orbit last year – will be able to observe the Sun during its maximum activity cycle.

As per research, it comes approximately every 11 years as the Sun's polarity reverses – a similar Earth scenario could be the planet's poles swapping positions.

This period of great turbulence. It involves the Sun changing from peaceful to violent and is marked by a significant rise in the number of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – massive bubbles of plasma that erupt of the Sun's outermost layer.

Made up of charged particles, a coronal mass ejection can weigh of billions of tons and can attain velocities of up to 3,000km each second. It can head out in any direction, even toward the Earth. At maximum velocity, the journey takes a CME about half a day to cover the 150 million km Earth-Sun distance.

"During typical or low-activity times, the Sun launches a few solar eruptions daily," explains a leading scientist. "Next year, we expect them to be 10 or more daily."

Researching CMEs is one of the most important research goals for the Indian maiden solar mission. Firstly, as these eruptions offer a chance to study the star at the centre of our planetary system, and secondly, since events occurring on the Sun endanger systems on our planet and in space.

Impacts on Earth and Orbital Systems

CMEs seldom present immediate danger to people, yet they impact life on Earth by causing magnetic disturbances that impact conditions in Earth's vicinity, where nearly 11,000 satellites, including many from India, orbit.

"The most beautiful displays from solar eruptions are auroras, being a clear example that solar particles from Sun are travelling toward our planet," the expert clarifies.

"But they can also make all the electronics on a satellite malfunction, disable power grids and disrupt meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Past Solar Events

• The most powerful solar event ever recorded occurred during the Carrington Event that disabled telegraph lines worldwide
• In 1989, a part of Quebec's power grid failed, affecting six million people in darkness for nine hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disrupted flight operations, leading to disruption across Scandinavia and some other European airports
• In February 2022, a CME caused dozens of spacecraft failing

With capability to observe what happens on the Sun's corona and detect a solar storm or solar eruption as it happens, measure its heat at the source and track its trajectory, it can work as a forewarning to switch off power grids and satellites redirecting them out of harm's way.

The Mission's Unique Advantage

There are other space observatories observing the Sun, India's spacecraft has an advantage compared to rivals regarding watching the corona.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph has perfect dimensions enabling it to nearly mimic lunar coverage, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere and allowing it an uninterrupted view of nearly the entire solar atmosphere 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, including during solar events," says the expert.

In other words, this instrument functions as a synthetic eclipse, obscuring the Sun's bright surface to let scientists constantly study its faint outer corona – something natural eclipses provide only during eclipses.

Moreover, it's unique that can study solar events using optical wavelengths, enabling it to determine a CME's temperature and heat energy – key clues indicating the intensity of an eruption when traveling toward Earth.

Preparation for Peak Period

In preparation for the upcoming solar maximum, researchers worked together analyzing information obtained from one of the largest solar eruption recorded by the mission has recorded until now.

This event began in September 2024 during early hours. The eruption's weight was 270 million tonnes – the iceberg that struck the ship weighed much less.

At origin, the heat was 1.8 million degrees Celsius and the energy content was equivalent to 2.2 million megatons of explosives – relative to nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller and 21 kilotons respectively.

Even though these figures make it sound incredibly large, the expert describes it as a "medium-sized" one.

The asteroid which wiped out prehistoric life on Earth was 100 million megatons and during the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see eruptions carrying power equal to greater levels.

"I consider the CME we analyzed to have occurred during periods was in the normal activity phase. Now this sets the standard that we'll be using assessing what is in store during solar maximum occurs," he states.

"The insights from this will assist in work out the countermeasures to be adopted safeguarding spacecraft in orbit. Additionally, they'll aid us gain deeper knowledge of our space environment," he adds.