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Regarding Aditya-L1, 2026 will be truly unique.

It's the first time the spacecraft – that entered into space recently – can observe our star when it reaches its maximum activity cycle.

According to research, this occurs approximately every 11 years when the Sun's polarity reverses – a similar Earth scenario would be the North and South poles changing places.

This period marked by intense activity. It sees our star transition from calm to stormy and features a significant rise in the number of solar eruptions and massive solar flares – massive bubbles of fire that erupt from the solar corona.

Composed of charged particles, a CME may have a mass up to a trillion kilograms and reach a speed exceeding 2,000 miles per second. It can head out toward various directions, even toward the Earth. At top speed, it would take an ejection 15 hours to traverse the 150 million km Earth-Sun distance.

"During typical or low-activity times, the Sun launches two to three CMEs a day," says an astrophysics expert. "In 2026, it's anticipated there will be over ten daily."

Researching CMEs is one of the most important research goals for the Indian maiden solar mission. One, because the ejections offer a chance to study the Sun at the centre of our planetary system, and secondly, since events occurring on the solar surface threaten infrastructure on Earth and in space.

Impacts on Earth and Orbital Systems

CMEs rarely pose a direct threat to people, but they do affect our planet by causing magnetic disturbances that impact the weather in Earth's vicinity, where about 11,000 satellites, comprising many from India, orbit.

"The most spectacular displays from solar eruptions are auroras, which are a clear example that solar particles from our star journey toward our planet," the expert clarifies.

"But they can also cause electronic systems on a satellite malfunction, disable electrical networks and disrupt meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Historical Solar Incidents

• The strongest solar storm in history occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled telegraph lines across the globe
• In 1989, a part of Canadian electrical network was knocked out, affecting millions without power for hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disrupted flight operations, causing chaos across Scandinavia and some other European air hubs
• Recently in 2022, a CME caused 38 commercial satellites being lost

If we are able to observe events on the Sun's corona and detect solar activity or solar eruption in real time, measure its heat at origin and watch its trajectory, this serves as advanced warning to shut down power grids and spacecraft and move them out of harm's way.

Aditya-L1's Unique Advantage

While other space observatories observing the Sun, Aditya-L1 holds an edge compared to rivals when it comes to watching the corona.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph has perfect dimensions enabling it to effectively simulate the Moon, fully covering the solar disk and allowing it an uninterrupted view of almost all of the corona 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, including during solar events," says the expert.

In other words, the coronagraph functions as an artificial Moon, obscuring the Sun's bright surface to let researchers constantly study the dim solar atmosphere – a feat the real Moon does only during specific moments.

Moreover, this is the only mission capable of examining eruptions in visible light, enabling it to determine a CME's temperature and thermal output – key clues that show the intensity of an eruption when traveling toward Earth.

Readiness for Peak Period

In preparation for the upcoming solar maximum, researchers worked together analyzing the data gathered from one of the largest solar eruption that Aditya-L1 has observed recently.

It originated on 13 September 2024 during early hours. The eruption's weight totaled billions of tons – the iceberg that struck the ship weighed much less.

At origin, its temperature reached extreme levels with energy equivalent comparable to 2.2 million megatons of TNT – relative to nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller 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 carried enormous energy and during solar peak occurs, we could see CMEs carrying power matching greater levels.

"I consider the CME we evaluated happened when the Sun was in the normal activity phase. Now this sets the benchmark for future comparison assessing what is in store when the maximum activity cycle arrives," he states.

"The learnings gained will help us developing the countermeasures to be adopted safeguarding spacecraft in near space. Additionally, they'll aid us gain deeper knowledge of near-Earth space," he adds.