Why the Year 2026 Will Be an Unprecedented Year for the Indian Sun Mission

For Aditya-L1, 2026 will be truly unique.

This marks the initial occasion the spacecraft – which was placed into space recently – can observe the Sun when it reaches its maximum activity cycle.

According to scientific data, it comes roughly once every 11 years when the Sun's magnetic poles flip – the Earth equivalent could be the North and South poles changing places.

It's a time marked by intense activity. It involves the Sun transition from calm to stormy and features a huge increase in the frequency of solar storms and massive solar flares – massive bubbles of plasma that erupt of the Sun's outermost layer.

Made up of ionized particles, a CME can weigh up to a trillion kilograms and reach a speed exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can travel toward various directions, even toward our planet. At maximum velocity, it would take an ejection about half a day to cover the vast distance between Earth and the Sun.

"During typical or quiet periods, our star emits a few solar eruptions daily," explains an astrophysics expert. "In 2026, it's anticipated them to be 10 or more daily."

Researching CMEs is one of the key research goals for the Indian first solar observatory. Firstly, as these eruptions offer a chance to learn about the star in the center of our solar system, and two, since events that take place on the solar surface threaten infrastructure on our planet and in space.

Effects on Our Planet and Space Infrastructure

CMEs seldom present a direct threat to people, yet they impact our planet through generating magnetic disturbances that impact conditions in near space, where about 11,000 satellites, including many from India, are stationed.

"The most beautiful manifestations of a CME are auroras, being direct evidence that solar particles from Sun journey to Earth," the expert clarifies.

"However, they may cause electronic systems aboard spacecraft fail, knock down power grids and affect meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Historical Solar Incidents

• The most powerful solar event in history was the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled communication systems across the globe
• During 1989, a part of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, affecting six million people without power for hours
• In November 2015, solar storms disturbed air traffic control, leading to chaos in Sweden and various European air hubs
• In February 2022, an ejection caused 38 commercial satellites failing

If we are able to observe what happens on the Sun's corona and spot solar activity or solar eruption as it happens, measure its heat at origin and watch its trajectory, this serves as a forewarning to switch off power grids and satellites and move them out of harm's way.

Aditya-L1's Unique Advantage

While other solar missions watching the Sun, India's spacecraft holds an edge compared to rivals when it comes to studying the solar atmosphere.

"The instrument has perfect dimensions enabling it to nearly mimic the Moon, fully covering the solar disk permitting an uninterrupted view of nearly the entire of the corona 24 hours a day, throughout the year, including during eclipses and occultations," notes the expert.

In other words, this instrument acts like a synthetic eclipse, blocking the solar glare allowing researchers constantly study its faint outer corona – something natural eclipses does only during eclipses.

Additionally, it's unique capable of examining eruptions in visible light, letting it measure a CME's temperature and thermal output – crucial data indicating how strong a CME would be when traveling our direction.

Readiness for Peak Period

In preparation for next year's solar maximum, scientists collaborated to study information gathered from one of the largest solar eruption recorded by the mission has recorded until now.

It originated on 13 September 2024 during early hours. The eruption's weight was 270 million tonnes – for comparison that struck the ship was 1.5 million tonnes.

Initially, its temperature reached extreme levels and the energy content comparable to 2.2 million megatons of TNT – relative to the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were 15 kilotons in scale respectively.

Even though these figures seem massive, the scientist describes it as a moderate event.

The space rock which wiped out prehistoric life on Earth was 100 million megatons and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see CMEs carrying power matching even more than that.

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

"The learnings gained will assist in developing protective measures to be adopted to protect spacecraft in near space. Additionally, they'll aid us gain a better understanding of our space environment," he concludes.