The Reason the Year 2026 Is Set to Be an Unprecedented Year for the Indian Sun Mission

Regarding Aditya-L1, 2026 will be like no other.

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

As per scientific data, this occurs roughly once every 11 years when the Sun's magnetic poles flip – the Earth equivalent could be the planet's poles swapping positions.

This period of great turbulence. It sees the Sun changing from peaceful to violent and features a huge increase in the frequency of solar storms and massive solar flares – enormous clouds of fire that blow out from the solar corona.

Composed of ionized particles, a coronal mass ejection can weigh up to a trillion kilograms and reach a speed of up to 3,000km each second. It can travel in any direction, even toward our planet. At top speed, the journey takes an ejection about half a day to cover the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"In the normal or quiet periods, our star launches a few solar eruptions a day," explains an astrophysics expert. "Next year, it's anticipated them to be over ten each day."

Researching CMEs ranks among the key research goals for the Indian first solar observatory. One, because the ejections offer a chance to learn about the star in the center of our planetary system, and two, since events that take place on the Sun endanger systems on Earth and in space.

Effects on Our Planet and Orbital Systems

CMEs seldom present a direct threat to people, yet they impact life on Earth through generating magnetic disturbances that impact conditions in Earth's vicinity, where nearly thousands of spacecraft, comprising Indian satellites, orbit.

"The most beautiful displays of a CME include northern lights, which are a clear example that solar particles from Sun journey toward our planet," the scientist explains.

"However, they may make all the electronics on a satellite malfunction, knock down power grids and disrupt weather and communication satellites."

Historical Solar Events

• The strongest solar event ever recorded was the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out communication systems across the globe
• In 1989, a part of Canadian electrical network was knocked out, leaving millions in darkness for nine hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disturbed flight operations, leading to chaos in Sweden and various European air hubs
• Recently in 2022, an ejection caused dozens of spacecraft failing

With capability to observe what happens on the Sun's corona and spot a solar storm or a coronal mass ejection as it happens, measure its heat at the source and track its trajectory, this serves as a forewarning to switch off power grids and spacecraft redirecting them out of harm's way.

Aditya-L1's Unique Advantage

There are other space observatories observing our star, Aditya-L1 holds an edge compared to rivals regarding watching the corona.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph has perfect dimensions enabling it to effectively simulate lunar coverage, fully covering the solar disk permitting continuous observation of nearly the entire solar atmosphere 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, even during eclipses and occultations," notes the expert.

Essentially, this instrument acts like a synthetic eclipse, blocking the Sun's bright surface allowing researchers constantly study its faint outer corona – something the real Moon does only during specific moments.

Moreover, it's unique capable of examining solar events using optical wavelengths, letting it measure eruption heat and heat energy – crucial data indicating how strong of an eruption if it headed toward Earth.

Preparation for Maximum Activity

In preparation for next year's solar maximum, researchers collaborated to study information obtained from a major solar eruption recorded by the mission has observed recently.

This event began on 13 September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. The eruption's weight totaled billions of tons – for comparison that struck the ship weighed much less.

Initially, the heat was 1.8 million degrees Celsius and the energy content was equivalent to 2.2 million megatons of TNT – in comparison the atomic bombs used in Japan were much smaller and 21 kilotons each.

Even though the numbers seem massive, the expert describes it as a moderate event.

The asteroid that eliminated the dinosaurs on our planet carried enormous energy and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see CMEs with energy content equal to greater levels.

"In my view the CME 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 learnings from this will assist in work out protective measures to implement to protect spacecraft in near space. They will also help achieving deeper knowledge of near-Earth space," he adds.