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Regarding Aditya-L1, 2026 is expected to be truly unique.

This marks the initial occasion the spacecraft – which was placed in orbit last year – can observe our star when it reaches its maximum activity cycle.

As per research, this occurs approximately every 11 years as the Sun's magnetic poles flip – a similar Earth scenario would be the planet's poles changing places.

It's a time of great turbulence. It sees our star transition from calm to stormy and features a huge increase in the number of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – enormous clouds of plasma that erupt of the Sun's outermost layer.

Composed of ionized particles, a CME can weigh of billions of tons and can attain a speed of up to 3,000km per second. It can head out in any direction, even toward the Earth. At maximum velocity, the journey takes a CME 15 hours to cover the 150 million km between Earth and the Sun.

"In the normal or low-activity times, our star emits two to three CMEs a day," explains an astrophysics expert. "Next year, it's anticipated them to be over ten each day."

Studying coronal mass ejections ranks among the most important 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, because activities that take place on the solar surface threaten infrastructure on Earth and in orbit.

Impacts on Our Planet and Space Infrastructure

CMEs rarely pose a direct threat to human life, yet they impact life on Earth through generating geomagnetic storms affecting the weather in Earth's vicinity, where nearly 11,000 satellites, including Indian satellites, are stationed.

"The most spectacular manifestations of a CME are auroras, being direct evidence that charged particles from our star are travelling toward our planet," the scientist clarifies.

"But they can also make all the electronics on a satellite malfunction, knock down electrical networks and affect meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Historical Solar Events

• The most powerful solar storm in history occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out telegraph lines worldwide
• In 1989, a part of Canadian electrical network failed, affecting millions without power for hours
• During late 2015, solar storms disrupted air traffic control, causing disruption across Scandinavia and some other European airports
• In February 2022, an ejection caused dozens of spacecraft being lost

If we are able to observe what happens on the Sun's corona and spot a solar storm or solar eruption in real time, record its temperature at the source and watch its path, this serves as advanced warning to switch off electrical systems and satellites and move them to safety.

The Mission's Special Capability

There are other solar missions watching the Sun, Aditya-L1 has an advantage compared to rivals regarding studying the solar atmosphere.

"The instrument has perfect dimensions enabling it to effectively simulate the Moon, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere permitting continuous observation of nearly the entire of the corona around the clock, 365 days a year, including during eclipses and occultations," notes the expert.

Essentially, the coronagraph functions as an artificial Moon, obscuring the Sun's bright surface allowing scientists continuously observe its faint outer corona – something natural eclipses provide only during specific moments.

Additionally, this is the only mission capable of examining solar events using optical wavelengths, enabling it to determine eruption heat and thermal output – key clues that show the intensity a CME would be if it headed our direction.

Readiness for Maximum Activity

To prepare for next year's peak solar activity period, researchers collaborated to study information gathered from one of the largest CMEs that Aditya-L1 has recorded until now.

This event began in September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. Its mass was 270 million tonnes – the iceberg that struck the ship was 1.5 million tonnes.

Initially, the heat reached extreme levels with energy equivalent was equivalent to millions of tons of TNT – relative to the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were 15 kilotons in scale each.

Although the numbers seem massive, the expert describes it as a "medium-sized" one.

The asteroid which wiped out the dinosaurs on our planet carried enormous energy and when solar peak occurs, we could see CMEs with energy content equal to even more than that.

"In my view this eruption we evaluated to have occurred when the Sun was in the normal activity phase. Now this sets the benchmark that we'll be using to evaluate what is in store when the maximum activity cycle arrives," he says.

"The learnings from this will assist in work out the countermeasures to implement safeguarding spacecraft in orbit. They will also help achieving a better understanding of near-Earth space," he adds.