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For Aditya-L1, the year 2026 is expected to be truly unique.

It's the first time the spacecraft – which was placed in orbit recently – can watch the Sun during its maximum activity cycle.

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

It's a time marked by intense activity. It involves our star changing from peaceful to violent and features a significant rise in the frequency of solar storms and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – massive bubbles of plasma that erupt of the Sun's outermost layer.

Composed of ionized particles, a coronal mass ejection may have a mass up to a trillion kilograms and reach a speed of up to 3,000km per second. It can head out toward various directions, even toward the Earth. At maximum velocity, it would take an ejection 15 hours to cover the 150 million km Earth-Sun distance.

"In the normal or quiet periods, the Sun launches a few solar eruptions daily," says an astrophysics expert. "Next year, we expect there will be over ten daily."

Researching CMEs ranks among the most important research goals for the Indian maiden solar mission. One, because the ejections provide an opportunity to study the star at the centre of our solar system, and two, because activities that take place on the Sun threaten systems on our planet and in space.

Effects on Our Planet and Orbital Systems

CMEs seldom present a direct threat to human life, yet they impact life on Earth through generating magnetic disturbances affecting conditions in near space, where nearly thousands of spacecraft, comprising Indian satellites, orbit.

"The most beautiful displays from solar eruptions are auroras, which are a clear example that solar particles from our star are travelling to Earth," the scientist explains.

"However, they may make all the electronics aboard spacecraft fail, knock down electrical networks and affect weather and communication satellites."

Historical Solar Incidents

• The strongest solar storm ever recorded was the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out communication systems worldwide
• During 1989, a part of Quebec's power grid failed, affecting six million people without power for hours
• During late 2015, solar storms disrupted flight operations, causing disruption in Sweden and various European air hubs
• Recently in 2022, an ejection had led to dozens of spacecraft being lost

If we are able to observe events in the solar atmosphere and spot a solar storm 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 power grids and spacecraft redirecting them out of harm's way.

The Mission's Special Capability

While other solar missions watching the Sun, India's spacecraft has an advantage over others regarding studying the solar atmosphere.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph has perfect dimensions that lets it effectively simulate the Moon, fully covering the Sun's photosphere permitting an uninterrupted view of nearly the entire of the corona around the clock, throughout the year, including during solar events," says the expert.

Essentially, this instrument functions as a synthetic eclipse, blocking the solar glare allowing researchers continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – a feat natural eclipses provide only during specific moments.

Moreover, it's unique that can study eruptions in visible light, enabling it to determine a CME's temperature and heat energy – crucial data indicating the intensity a CME would be when traveling toward Earth.

Readiness for Peak Period

To prepare for next year's solar maximum, researchers collaborated analyzing information gathered 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 totaled billions of tons – the iceberg that sank Titanic was 1.5 million tonnes.

Initially, its temperature reached extreme levels with energy equivalent comparable to 2.2 million megatons of TNT – in comparison nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller and 21 kilotons respectively.

Although these figures seem incredibly large, the expert classifies it as a moderate event.

The space rock which wiped out prehistoric life on our planet carried enormous energy and during the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see eruptions carrying power matching greater levels.

"In my view this eruption we evaluated to have occurred when the Sun was in the normal activity phase. Now this sets the benchmark for future comparison to evaluate what to expect when the maximum activity cycle occurs," he states.

"The learnings from this will help us developing protective measures to implement safeguarding spacecraft in near space. They will also help achieving a better understanding of our space environment," he adds.