The Reason the Year 2026 Is Set to Be an Unprecedented Year for India's Sun Mission

For Aditya-L1, the year 2026 will be like no other.

It's the first time the spacecraft – that entered into space recently – can observe the Sun during the peak of its solar cycle.

As per scientific data, it comes approximately once every 11 years as the Sun's magnetic poles flip – the Earth equivalent could be the planet's poles changing places.

It's a time marked by intense activity. It sees our star changing from calm to stormy and features a significant rise in the number of solar eruptions and massive solar flares – enormous clouds of plasma that blow out of the Sun's outermost layer.

Composed of charged particles, a CME may have a mass of billions of tons and can attain velocities of up to 3,000km per second. It can travel toward various directions, even toward our planet. At top speed, it would take a CME about half a day to cover the 150 million km between Earth and the Sun.

"In the normal or quiet periods, the Sun launches two to three CMEs daily," explains a leading scientist. "Next year, it's anticipated there will be over ten each day."

Researching coronal mass ejections ranks among the key research goals for the Indian first solar observatory. One, as these eruptions offer a chance to study the star at the centre of our solar system, and secondly, since events occurring on the solar surface threaten systems on Earth and in orbit.

Effects on Our Planet and Space Infrastructure

CMEs seldom present a direct threat to people, but they do affect our planet by causing magnetic disturbances that impact the weather in near space, where about thousands of spacecraft, comprising Indian satellites, are stationed.

"The most spectacular manifestations of a CME are auroras, being direct evidence that solar particles from Sun journey to Earth," the expert explains.

"But they can also cause electronic systems on a satellite malfunction, disable electrical networks and affect meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Past Solar Incidents

• The strongest solar storm in history was the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled telegraph lines worldwide
• In 1989, sections of Canadian electrical network failed, affecting six million people without power for hours
• During late 2015, solar storms disturbed air traffic control, causing chaos in Sweden and some other European airports
• Recently in 2022, a CME caused dozens of spacecraft being lost

With capability to observe events on the Sun's corona and spot a solar storm or solar eruption in real time, measure its heat at origin and track its path, this serves as advanced warning to switch off power grids and satellites and move them to safety.

Aditya-L1's Unique Advantage

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

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph has perfect dimensions that lets it effectively simulate the Moon, fully covering the Sun's photosphere permitting continuous observation of nearly the entire solar atmosphere 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, including during solar events," notes the expert.

Essentially, this instrument acts like an artificial Moon, blocking the solar glare allowing researchers continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – a feat the real Moon does only during specific moments.

Moreover, it's unique that can study eruptions in visible light, letting it determine a CME's temperature and thermal output – key clues that show the intensity of an eruption when traveling our direction.

Readiness for Maximum Activity

In preparation for the upcoming peak solar activity period, researchers collaborated to study the data gathered from a major CMEs recorded by the mission has observed recently.

This event began on 13 September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. Its mass was 270 million tonnes – for comparison that sank Titanic weighed much less.

At origin, its temperature reached extreme levels and the energy content comparable to 2.2 million megatons of explosives – relative to the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller and 21 kilotons each.

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

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

"In my view the CME we evaluated happened during periods of typical solar activity. Now this sets the standard for future comparison assessing what is in store when the maximum activity cycle arrives," he states.

"The insights from this will help us work out protective measures to be adopted to protect spacecraft in orbit. They will also help us gain a better understanding of near-Earth space," he concludes.