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Regarding Aditya-L1, 2026 will be truly unique.

It's the first time the spacecraft – which was placed into space recently – can observe the Sun when it reaches the peak of its solar cycle.

According to research, it comes roughly every 11 years when the Sun's magnetic poles flip – a similar Earth scenario would be the planet's poles changing places.

This period marked by intense activity. It sees the Sun transition from peaceful to violent and features a significant rise in the number of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – enormous clouds of fire that blow out from the solar corona.

Made up of charged particles, a coronal mass ejection can weigh of billions of tons and can attain velocities of up to 3,000km each second. It can head out in any direction, even toward the Earth. At maximum velocity, it would take a CME 15 hours to cover the 150 million km Earth-Sun distance.

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

Studying coronal mass ejections is one of the most important scientific objectives of India's maiden solar mission. Firstly, as these eruptions provide an opportunity to study the star at the centre of our planetary system, and two, since events occurring on the solar surface threaten infrastructure on Earth and in space.

Impacts on Our Planet and Orbital Systems

CMEs seldom present a direct threat to human life, but they do affect life on Earth through generating magnetic disturbances that impact conditions in near space, where nearly 11,000 satellites, including many from India, orbit.

"The most beautiful manifestations of a CME include northern lights, being direct evidence that solar particles from our star are travelling to Earth," the scientist explains.

"However, they may make all the electronics on a satellite malfunction, disable electrical networks and disrupt meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Historical Solar Events

• The strongest solar storm ever recorded occurred during the Carrington Event that disabled communication systems worldwide
• During 1989, sections of Quebec's power grid failed, leaving six million people in darkness for nine hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disturbed flight operations, causing disruption in Sweden and some other European airports
• In February 2022, an ejection caused dozens of spacecraft being lost

If we are able to see events in the solar atmosphere and spot solar activity or solar eruption as it happens, measure its heat at origin and track its path, this serves as advanced warning to shut down power grids and satellites and move them out of harm's way.

The Mission's Special Capability

There are other space observatories observing the Sun, India's spacecraft holds an edge compared to rivals regarding studying the solar atmosphere.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph is the exact size that lets it effectively simulate the Moon, fully covering the solar disk permitting continuous observation of almost all solar atmosphere around the clock, throughout the year, even during solar events," says the expert.

In other words, this instrument functions as an artificial Moon, blocking the solar glare to let researchers continuously observe its faint outer corona – something the real Moon does only during specific moments.

Additionally, it's unique that can study solar events in visible light, enabling it to determine eruption heat and heat energy – key clues that show the intensity of an eruption when traveling our direction.

Readiness for Maximum Activity

To prepare for next year's solar maximum, scientists worked together analyzing the data gathered from one of the largest CMEs recorded by the mission has observed recently.

This event began in September 2024 during early hours. Its mass totaled billions of tons – for comparison that sank Titanic weighed much less.

Initially, its temperature was 1.8 million degrees Celsius and the energy content was equivalent to 2.2 million megatons of TNT – relative to nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller and 21 kilotons respectively.

Although the numbers seem incredibly large, the expert classifies it as a "medium-sized" one.

The space rock that eliminated the dinosaurs on our planet was 100 million megatons and when solar peak occurs, we could see CMEs carrying power matching even more than that.

"In my view the CME we analyzed happened during periods was in the normal activity phase. Now this sets the benchmark that we'll be using to evaluate what to expect when the maximum activity cycle arrives," he says.

"The insights gained will help us work out protective measures to be adopted safeguarding spacecraft in orbit. They will also help us gain a better understanding of our space environment," he adds.