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

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

According to research, it comes roughly every 11 years when the Sun's polarity reverses – the Earth equivalent could be the North and South poles swapping positions.

This period of great turbulence. It sees the Sun transition from peaceful to violent and features a huge increase in the number of solar storms and massive solar flares – enormous clouds of plasma that erupt of the Sun's outermost layer.

Made up of charged particles, a coronal mass ejection may have a mass up to a trillion kilograms and reach a speed of up to 3,000km each second. It can travel toward various directions, even toward our planet. At maximum velocity, the journey takes a CME 15 hours to traverse the vast distance between Earth and the Sun.

"During typical or quiet periods, the Sun emits a few solar eruptions a day," explains an astrophysics expert. "In 2026, it's anticipated there will be over ten daily."

Studying CMEs is one of the key scientific objectives of India's maiden solar mission. Firstly, as these eruptions provide an opportunity to study the Sun at the centre of our solar system, and secondly, since events occurring on the solar surface endanger infrastructure on Earth and in space.

Impacts on Our Planet and Space Infrastructure

CMEs rarely pose immediate danger to people, but they do affect life on Earth through generating geomagnetic storms affecting conditions in Earth's vicinity, where nearly 11,000 satellites, including many from India, orbit.

"The most beautiful displays of a CME include northern lights, being a clear example that solar particles from Sun journey toward our planet," the expert clarifies.

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

Past Solar Incidents

• The most powerful solar event in history was the Carrington Event which knocked out communication systems across the globe
• During 1989, a part of Canadian electrical network failed, affecting millions without power for nine hours
• During late 2015, solar storms disrupted air traffic control, causing chaos across Scandinavia and some other European air hubs
• In February 2022, an ejection caused dozens of spacecraft being lost

If we are able to observe events in the solar atmosphere and detect a solar storm or solar eruption as it happens, measure its heat at the source and track its path, this serves as advanced warning to shut down electrical systems 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 has an advantage over others regarding studying the solar atmosphere.

"The instrument is the exact size that lets it effectively simulate the Moon, fully covering the Sun's photosphere and allowing it an uninterrupted view of almost all solar atmosphere around the clock, 365 days a year, even during eclipses and occultations," says the researcher.

In other words, this instrument 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 eclipses.

Additionally, it's unique that can study solar events in visible light, letting it determine eruption heat and heat energy – crucial data indicating how strong a CME would be when traveling toward Earth.

Preparation for Peak Period

In preparation for the upcoming solar maximum, scientists worked together analyzing the data gathered from one of the largest solar eruption recorded by the mission has recorded until now.

This event began on 13 September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. Its mass totaled billions of tons – for comparison that struck the ship weighed much less.

Initially, the heat was 1.8 million degrees Celsius with energy equivalent comparable to 2.2 million megatons of TNT – relative to the atomic bombs used in Japan were 15 kilotons and 21 kilotons respectively.

Although the numbers make it sound massive, the scientist describes it as a "medium-sized" one.

The asteroid which wiped out prehistoric life on Earth was 100 million megatons and during solar peak occurs, we could see CMEs with energy content equal to greater levels.

"I consider this eruption we evaluated to have occurred during periods was in the normal activity phase. Now this sets the standard for future comparison assessing what to expect during solar maximum arrives," he says.

"The insights gained will assist in developing the countermeasures to implement safeguarding satellites in orbit. They will also help us gain deeper knowledge of our space environment," he adds.