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

This marks the initial occasion the spacecraft – that entered into space last year – can observe our star during the peak of its solar cycle.

According to research, it comes roughly every 11 years when the Sun's magnetic poles flip – a similar Earth scenario would be the planet's poles swapping positions.

It's a time marked by intense activity. It sees the Sun transition from peaceful to violent and is marked by a significant rise in the frequency of solar storms and massive solar flares – massive bubbles of fire that erupt from the solar corona.

Composed of ionized particles, a coronal mass ejection can weigh of billions of tons and reach velocities of up to 3,000km each second. It can travel toward various directions, even toward the Earth. At maximum velocity, it would take a CME about half a day to cover the 150 million km between Earth and the Sun.

"During typical or quiet periods, our star launches two to three CMEs a day," says a leading scientist. "In 2026, we expect there will be 10 or more daily."

Researching CMEs ranks among the most important scientific objectives for the Indian maiden solar mission. One, as these eruptions provide an opportunity to study the star at the centre of our planetary system, and two, since events occurring on the solar surface threaten infrastructure on our planet and in space.

Impacts on Our Planet and Space Infrastructure

CMEs seldom present immediate danger to people, yet they impact our planet by causing magnetic disturbances affecting conditions in near space, where nearly thousands of spacecraft, including many from India, orbit.

"The most beautiful displays of a CME include northern lights, which are direct evidence that charged particles from Sun journey toward our planet," the scientist clarifies.

"But they can also make all the electronics on a satellite fail, knock down electrical networks and affect weather and communication satellites."

Past Solar Incidents

• The strongest solar event ever recorded was the Carrington Event that disabled telegraph lines across the globe
• During 1989, a part of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, affecting millions without power for nine hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disrupted air traffic control, causing chaos in Sweden and some other European airports
• Recently in 2022, an ejection caused 38 commercial satellites failing

With capability to see what happens in the solar atmosphere and detect solar activity or solar eruption in real time, record its temperature at the source and watch its trajectory, this serves as a forewarning to switch off power grids and spacecraft and move them out of harm's way.

The Mission's Unique Advantage

While other space observatories observing the Sun, India's spacecraft holds an edge over others when it comes to studying the solar atmosphere.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph is the exact size that lets it nearly mimic the Moon, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere and allowing it an uninterrupted view of almost all solar atmosphere around the clock, 365 days a year, even during solar events," says the expert.

Essentially, the coronagraph acts like a synthetic eclipse, obscuring the solar glare allowing researchers constantly study its faint outer corona – something the real Moon provide only during specific moments.

Additionally, it's unique that can study solar events in visible light, enabling it to determine eruption heat and thermal output – key clues indicating how strong of an eruption if it headed our direction.

Preparation for Maximum Activity

To prepare for the upcoming solar maximum, researchers collaborated to study information gathered from one of the largest solar eruption recorded by the mission has recorded until now.

It originated in September 2024 during early hours. Its mass was 270 million tonnes – for comparison that struck the ship was 1.5 million tonnes.

Initially, its temperature reached extreme levels and the energy content was equivalent to millions of tons of TNT – in comparison nuclear weapons used in Japan were 15 kilotons in scale respectively.

Even though the numbers make it sound massive, the expert classifies it as a moderate event.

The asteroid which wiped out prehistoric life on Earth was 100 million megatons and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, there may be CMEs carrying power equal to even more than that.

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

"The insights from this will help us developing the countermeasures to implement to protect satellites in orbit. Additionally, they'll aid achieving a better understanding of near-Earth space," he adds.