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

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

As per research, this occurs roughly once every 11 years when the Sun's polarity reverses – a similar Earth scenario would be the planet's poles swapping positions.

It's a time marked by intense activity. It sees the Sun changing from calm to stormy and features a huge increase in the frequency of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – massive bubbles of plasma that erupt from the solar corona.

Made up of ionized particles, a coronal mass ejection can weigh of billions of tons and reach a speed of up to 3,000km per second. It can head out in any direction, including towards the Earth. At top speed, the journey takes an ejection about half a day to cover the 150 million km Earth-Sun distance.

"In the normal or low-activity times, the Sun emits two to three CMEs daily," says an astrophysics expert. "Next year, we expect them to be over ten each day."

Studying coronal mass ejections is one of the most important scientific objectives for the Indian maiden solar mission. One, as these eruptions provide an opportunity to learn about the star in the center of our planetary system, and two, because activities that take place on the Sun endanger infrastructure on Earth and in space.

Effects on Our Planet and Space Infrastructure

Coronal mass ejections rarely pose immediate danger to human life, yet they impact our planet by causing magnetic disturbances that impact conditions in near space, where nearly 11,000 satellites, comprising many from India, are stationed.

"The most spectacular displays from solar eruptions are auroras, which are a clear example that solar particles from Sun journey toward our planet," the expert clarifies.

"But they can also cause electronic systems aboard spacecraft malfunction, knock down power grids and disrupt weather and communication satellites."

Past Solar Incidents

• The most powerful solar storm ever recorded occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled telegraph lines worldwide
• In 1989, sections of Canadian electrical network was knocked out, leaving millions without power for nine hours
• During late 2015, solar storms disturbed air traffic control, causing disruption across Scandinavia and some other European air hubs
• In February 2022, an ejection caused 38 commercial satellites being lost

If we are able to see events on the Sun's corona and spot a solar storm or solar eruption in real time, record its temperature at the source and track its path, it can work as advanced warning to shut down power grids and spacecraft redirecting them out of harm's way.

Aditya-L1's Unique Advantage

While other solar missions watching the Sun, Aditya-L1 holds an edge over others when it comes to studying the solar atmosphere.

"The instrument is the exact size that lets it nearly mimic lunar coverage, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere permitting an uninterrupted view of nearly the entire of the corona 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, including during solar events," notes the researcher.

Essentially, this instrument acts like a synthetic eclipse, blocking the Sun's bright surface to let researchers constantly study the dim solar atmosphere – something natural eclipses provide only during eclipses.

Additionally, this is the only mission capable of examining solar events in visible light, letting it measure a CME's temperature and thermal output – key clues indicating how strong a CME would be when traveling our direction.

Readiness for Maximum Activity

To prepare for the upcoming peak solar activity period, researchers worked together analyzing the data obtained from one of the largest CMEs that Aditya-L1 has observed recently.

It originated in September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. Its mass totaled billions of tons – for comparison that sank Titanic weighed much less.

At origin, its temperature was 1.8 million degrees Celsius with energy equivalent was equivalent to 2.2 million megatons of TNT – in comparison nuclear weapons used in Japan were 15 kilotons in scale respectively.

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

The asteroid which wiped out prehistoric life on Earth carried enormous energy and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, there may be eruptions carrying power matching greater levels.

"In my view this eruption we evaluated happened during periods of typical solar activity. This establishes the benchmark for future comparison to evaluate what is in store when the maximum activity cycle occurs," he states.

"The learnings gained will assist in developing the countermeasures to implement safeguarding satellites in near space. They will also help us gain a better understanding of our space environment," he concludes.