The Reason 2026 Will Be an Unprecedented Year for India's Solar Observation Mission

Regarding Aditya-L1, 2026 will be truly unique.

It's the first time the spacecraft – which was placed into space recently – can observe our star during the peak of its solar cycle.

According to research, this occurs approximately every 11 years when the Sun's polarity reverses – the Earth equivalent would be the North and South poles swapping positions.

This period of great turbulence. It involves the Sun transition from peaceful to violent and features a significant rise in the frequency of solar storms and massive solar flares – massive bubbles of fire that blow out from the solar corona.

Composed of charged particles, a coronal mass ejection may have a mass up to a trillion kilograms and reach velocities exceeding 2,000 miles per second. It can travel toward various directions, including towards the Earth. At maximum velocity, it would take a CME about half a day to cover the 150 million km Earth-Sun distance.

"During typical or low-activity times, the Sun emits two to three CMEs a day," explains an astrophysics expert. "Next year, it's anticipated them to be over ten daily."

Studying CMEs ranks among the key scientific objectives 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, because activities occurring on the Sun threaten systems on our planet and in orbit.

Effects on Earth and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections rarely pose a direct threat to human life, yet they impact our planet through generating geomagnetic storms that impact conditions in Earth's vicinity, where nearly 11,000 satellites, comprising Indian satellites, are stationed.

"The most beautiful displays from solar eruptions include northern lights, being a clear example that charged particles from Sun are travelling to Earth," the scientist clarifies.

"But they can also make all the electronics aboard spacecraft malfunction, knock down electrical networks and disrupt weather and communication satellites."

Past Solar Incidents

• The most powerful solar storm in history was the Carrington Event that disabled telegraph lines across the globe
• During 1989, a part of Canadian electrical network was knocked out, affecting six million people without power for nine hours
• In November 2015, solar storms disrupted air traffic control, causing disruption in Sweden and various European airports
• In February 2022, a CME had led to dozens of spacecraft failing

With capability to see what happens in the solar atmosphere and detect solar activity or solar eruption in real time, measure its heat at the source and watch its path, this serves as a forewarning to shut down electrical systems and spacecraft and move them out of harm's way.

Aditya-L1's Unique Advantage

There are other space observatories watching the Sun, India's spacecraft holds an edge compared to rivals when it comes to watching the corona.

"The instrument is the exact size enabling it to nearly mimic the Moon, completely blocking the solar disk and allowing it continuous observation of almost all solar atmosphere 24 hours a day, throughout the year, even during eclipses and occultations," says the expert.

Essentially, this instrument acts like an artificial Moon, obscuring the Sun's bright surface to let researchers constantly study its faint outer corona – a feat the real Moon does only during specific moments.

Additionally, this is the only mission capable of examining solar events in visible light, enabling it to measure eruption heat and heat energy – key clues indicating the intensity of an eruption if it headed toward Earth.

Preparation for Maximum Activity

To prepare for the upcoming peak solar activity period, researchers collaborated analyzing the data obtained from one of the largest CMEs that Aditya-L1 has recorded until now.

This event began on 13 September 2024 during early hours. The eruption's weight was 270 million tonnes – for comparison that sank Titanic weighed much less.

Initially, the heat reached extreme levels and the energy content was equivalent to 2.2 million megatons of explosives – in comparison the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were 15 kilotons in scale each.

Even though the numbers make it sound massive, the scientist describes it as a moderate event.

The space rock which wiped out prehistoric life on our planet carried enormous energy and during solar peak occurs, we could see eruptions with energy content matching greater levels.

"I consider the CME we evaluated to have occurred when the Sun of typical solar activity. This establishes the benchmark for future comparison to evaluate what to expect when the maximum activity cycle occurs," he says.

"The learnings from this will help us developing the countermeasures to be adopted to protect satellites in orbit. They will also help achieving a better understanding of our space environment," he concludes.