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For Aditya-L1, 2026 will be truly unique.

It's the first time the spacecraft – that entered in orbit last year – will be able to watch the Sun when it reaches its maximum activity cycle.

According to scientific data, this occurs approximately once every 11 years when the Sun's magnetic poles flip – a similar Earth scenario would be the North and South poles changing places.

This period of great turbulence. It involves our star transition from calm to stormy and features a huge increase in the frequency of solar eruptions and massive solar flares – enormous clouds of fire that erupt of the Sun's outermost layer.

Made up of charged particles, a CME may have a mass up to a trillion kilograms and reach velocities exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can head out toward various directions, including towards the Earth. At maximum velocity, it would take an ejection about half a day to traverse the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"In the normal or low-activity times, our star emits two to three CMEs daily," says a leading scientist. "In 2026, we expect there will be 10 or more each day."

Researching CMEs is one of the key scientific objectives of India's maiden solar mission. One, because the ejections provide an opportunity to learn about the star at the centre of our planetary system, and secondly, because activities that take place on the Sun endanger systems on Earth and in space.

Effects on Earth and Orbital Systems

CMEs seldom present a direct threat to human life, but they do affect life on Earth by causing geomagnetic storms that impact the weather in near space, where nearly 11,000 satellites, including many from India, are stationed.

"The most beautiful displays from solar eruptions are auroras, being a clear example that solar particles from our star journey toward our planet," the scientist explains.

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

Historical Solar Events

• The strongest solar storm in history was the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out communication systems worldwide
• During 1989, a part of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, leaving six million people in darkness for hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disrupted flight operations, causing chaos in Sweden and various European airports
• Recently in 2022, an ejection had led to 38 commercial satellites being lost

If we are able to observe what happens in the solar atmosphere and detect solar activity or a coronal mass ejection in real time, measure its heat at origin and watch its trajectory, it can work as advanced warning to shut down electrical systems and spacecraft and move them to safety.

The Mission's Unique Advantage

There are other solar missions observing our star, India's spacecraft holds an edge compared to rivals when it comes to studying the solar atmosphere.

"The instrument has perfect dimensions enabling it to effectively simulate lunar coverage, fully covering the Sun's photosphere permitting an uninterrupted view of almost all solar atmosphere 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, even during solar events," says the researcher.

Essentially, this instrument acts like a synthetic eclipse, blocking the solar glare to let scientists continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – something the real Moon provide only during eclipses.

Additionally, this is the only mission that can study eruptions using optical wavelengths, enabling it to measure eruption heat and thermal output – crucial data indicating how strong a CME would be when traveling toward Earth.

Preparation for Peak Period

In preparation for next year's peak solar activity period, researchers collaborated to study information gathered from a major CMEs recorded by the mission has recorded until now.

It originated in September 2024 during early hours. Its mass totaled billions of tons – the iceberg that sank Titanic weighed much less.

Initially, the heat was 1.8 million degrees Celsius and the energy content comparable to millions of tons of explosives – in comparison nuclear weapons used in Japan were 15 kilotons in scale respectively.

Even though these figures seem massive, the expert describes it as a "medium-sized" one.

The asteroid that eliminated the dinosaurs on our planet was 100 million megatons and when solar peak occurs, we could see eruptions carrying power equal to even more than that.

"In my view this eruption we analyzed happened during periods was in the normal activity phase. This establishes the standard for future comparison assessing what to expect during solar maximum occurs," he states.

"The insights gained will assist in work out protective measures to implement to protect satellites in orbit. Additionally, they'll aid achieving a better understanding of our space environment," he concludes.