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

This marks the initial occasion the spacecraft – that entered into space recently – will be able to watch the Sun during its maximum activity cycle.

As per research, this occurs approximately once every 11 years as the Sun's polarity reverses – the Earth equivalent could be the North and South poles swapping positions.

This period marked by intense activity. It sees the Sun transition from peaceful to violent and is marked by a huge increase in the frequency of solar storms and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – enormous clouds of plasma that blow out from the solar corona.

Composed of charged particles, a coronal mass ejection can weigh up to a trillion kilograms and can attain velocities of up to 3,000km each second. It can head out in any direction, including towards the Earth. At maximum velocity, the journey takes a CME about half a day to cover the vast distance between Earth and the Sun.

"In the normal or low-activity times, our star launches two to three CMEs a day," explains a leading scientist. "In 2026, we expect there will be over ten each day."

Studying CMEs is one of the key scientific objectives for the Indian maiden solar mission. Firstly, as these eruptions provide an opportunity to learn about the star at the centre of our solar system, and two, since events occurring on the solar surface endanger infrastructure on Earth and in orbit.

Impacts on Our Planet and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections rarely pose immediate danger to people, but they do affect our planet through generating magnetic disturbances affecting the weather in near space, where about thousands of spacecraft, including Indian satellites, orbit.

"The most spectacular manifestations of a CME are auroras, which are a clear example that charged particles from Sun are travelling to Earth," the expert clarifies.

"However, they may cause electronic systems aboard spacecraft malfunction, disable power grids and disrupt weather and communication satellites."

Historical Solar Events

• The strongest solar event ever recorded was the Carrington Event which knocked out communication systems worldwide
• During 1989, sections of Canadian electrical network was knocked out, leaving six million people in darkness for nine hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disrupted air traffic control, leading to chaos in Sweden and some other European air hubs
• In February 2022, a CME had led to 38 commercial satellites being lost

With capability to observe what happens on the Sun's corona and detect a solar storm or solar eruption as it happens, record its temperature at the source and track its path, it can work as advanced warning to switch off power grids and satellites and move them out of harm's way.

Aditya-L1's Unique Advantage

While other solar missions observing our star, India's spacecraft holds an edge over others regarding watching the corona.

"The instrument is the exact size enabling it to effectively simulate lunar coverage, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere permitting an uninterrupted view of nearly the entire of the corona around the clock, 365 days a year, including during solar events," says the expert.

In other words, this instrument functions as an artificial Moon, obscuring the Sun's bright surface to let scientists continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – something natural eclipses does only during eclipses.

Additionally, this is the only mission capable of examining eruptions using optical wavelengths, enabling it to measure eruption heat and heat energy – crucial data that show the intensity of an eruption when traveling toward Earth.

Readiness for Maximum Activity

To prepare for next year's solar maximum, scientists worked together to study information gathered from a major CMEs that Aditya-L1 has observed recently.

It originated in September 2024 during early hours. The eruption's weight totaled billions of tons – the iceberg that struck the ship was 1.5 million tonnes.

Initially, its temperature was 1.8 million degrees Celsius with energy equivalent was equivalent to 2.2 million megatons of explosives – relative to the atomic bombs used in Japan were much smaller and 21 kilotons respectively.

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

The space rock that eliminated the dinosaurs on Earth carried enormous energy and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, there may be CMEs carrying power matching greater levels.

"In my view the CME we evaluated to have occurred during periods of typical solar activity. This establishes the standard that we'll be using assessing what to expect when the maximum activity cycle occurs," he says.

"The insights from this will help us work out protective measures to implement safeguarding spacecraft in near space. Additionally, they'll aid us gain deeper knowledge of our space environment," he concludes.