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For India's first solar observatory, 2026 will be truly unique.

It's the first time the spacecraft – which was placed into space recently – can watch the Sun during its maximum activity cycle.

As per scientific data, this occurs approximately once every 11 years as the Sun's magnetic poles flip – the Earth equivalent could be the North and South poles swapping positions.

This period marked by intense activity. It sees the Sun changing from calm to stormy and is marked by a huge increase in the number of solar eruptions and massive solar flares – enormous clouds of plasma that blow out from the solar corona.

Composed of ionized particles, a CME may have a mass up to a trillion kilograms and reach velocities of up to 3,000km per second. It can head out toward various directions, including towards our planet. At maximum velocity, the journey takes an ejection about half a day to cover the vast distance between Earth and the Sun.

"In the normal or low-activity times, the Sun emits a few solar eruptions a day," says an astrophysics expert. "In 2026, we expect them to be over ten each day."

Studying 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, because activities that take place on the solar surface threaten systems on Earth and in space.

Effects on Our Planet and Space Infrastructure

Coronal mass ejections rarely pose a direct threat to human life, yet they impact life on Earth by causing magnetic disturbances affecting the weather in Earth's vicinity, where about thousands of spacecraft, including many from India, are stationed.

"The most beautiful displays from solar eruptions are auroras, which are a clear example that solar particles from our star journey to Earth," the expert clarifies.

"However, they may make all the electronics on a satellite malfunction, knock down electrical networks and disrupt weather and communication satellites."

Past Solar Events

• The strongest solar event in history occurred during the Carrington Event that disabled communication systems across the globe
• During 1989, sections of Canadian electrical network was knocked out, affecting six million people without power for nine hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disturbed air traffic control, leading to chaos in Sweden and various European airports
• Recently in 2022, an ejection caused dozens of spacecraft being lost

If we are able to observe what happens in the solar atmosphere and detect solar activity or solar eruption as it happens, record its temperature at the source and watch its path, it can work as a forewarning to shut down electrical systems and satellites redirecting them out of harm's way.

The Mission's Special Capability

There are other space observatories watching the Sun, India's spacecraft holds an edge over others regarding studying the solar atmosphere.

"The instrument has perfect dimensions that lets it effectively simulate lunar coverage, fully covering the Sun's photosphere and allowing it continuous observation of almost all of the corona 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, even during eclipses and occultations," says the expert.

Essentially, this instrument functions as a synthetic eclipse, blocking the solar glare to let scientists continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – a feat natural eclipses provide only during specific moments.

Moreover, it's unique capable of examining eruptions in visible light, enabling it to measure eruption heat and thermal output – key clues that show how strong a CME would be if it headed our direction.

Preparation for Peak Period

To prepare for next year's solar maximum, scientists worked together analyzing the data obtained from a major CMEs that Aditya-L1 has recorded until now.

This event began on 13 September 2024 during early hours. Its mass was 270 million tonnes – the iceberg that struck the ship was 1.5 million tonnes.

At origin, the heat was 1.8 million degrees Celsius and the energy content was equivalent to 2.2 million megatons of explosives – in comparison nuclear weapons used in Japan were much smaller in scale each.

Although these figures seem incredibly large, the scientist describes it as a "medium-sized" one.

The asteroid which wiped out prehistoric life on our planet was 100 million megatons and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, there may be CMEs with energy content equal to even more than that.

"In my view the CME we evaluated to have occurred when the Sun was in the normal activity phase. This establishes the standard that we'll be using to evaluate what is in store when the maximum activity cycle occurs," he states.

"The insights gained will assist in developing the countermeasures to implement to protect spacecraft in orbit. Additionally, they'll aid achieving a better understanding of our space environment," he adds.