Why the Year 2026 Will Be an Unprecedented Year for India's Sun Mission

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

It's the first time the observatory – that entered in orbit last year – will be able to watch the Sun during the peak of its solar cycle.

As per research, this occurs roughly every 11 years when the Sun's magnetic poles flip – a similar Earth scenario would be the North and South poles swapping positions.

It's a time of great turbulence. It sees the Sun transition from calm to stormy and features a significant rise in the number of solar storms and massive solar flares – enormous clouds of fire that blow out from the solar corona.

Composed of charged particles, a coronal mass ejection can weigh of billions of tons and can attain velocities exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can head out toward various directions, including towards our planet. At maximum velocity, it would take a CME 15 hours to traverse the vast distance between Earth and the Sun.

"In the normal or low-activity times, our star emits a few solar eruptions daily," says a leading scientist. "Next year, it's anticipated them to be 10 or more each day."

Researching coronal mass ejections is one of the key research goals for the Indian maiden solar mission. One, as these eruptions provide an opportunity to study the Sun in the center of our solar system, and two, since events that take place on the solar surface endanger infrastructure on Earth and in orbit.

Impacts on Earth and Space Infrastructure

CMEs seldom present immediate danger to people, yet they impact life on Earth by causing magnetic disturbances affecting conditions in near space, where nearly 11,000 satellites, including Indian satellites, are stationed.

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

"But they can also make all the electronics on a satellite fail, disable power grids and affect meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Historical Solar Incidents

• The most powerful solar storm in history occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out communication systems worldwide
• In 1989, sections of Canadian electrical network failed, leaving six million people without power for nine hours
• In November 2015, solar storms disrupted air traffic control, leading to disruption across Scandinavia and various European air hubs
• In February 2022, an ejection had led to dozens of spacecraft being lost

With capability to see events on the Sun's corona and detect solar activity or a coronal mass ejection in real time, record its temperature at origin and track its trajectory, it can work as a forewarning to switch off power grids and spacecraft redirecting them to safety.

The Mission's Unique Advantage

While other space observatories watching the Sun, India's spacecraft holds an edge over others regarding watching the corona.

"The instrument has perfect dimensions that lets it nearly mimic lunar coverage, fully covering the Sun's photosphere and allowing it continuous observation of almost all of the corona 24 hours a day, throughout the year, even during solar events," notes the researcher.

In other words, the coronagraph acts like an artificial Moon, blocking the solar glare allowing researchers constantly study its faint outer corona – something the real Moon does only during eclipses.

Additionally, this is the only mission that can study eruptions using optical wavelengths, letting it measure eruption heat and thermal output – key clues indicating how strong a CME would be if it headed our direction.

Readiness for Peak Period

In preparation for the upcoming peak solar activity period, researchers worked together to study the data obtained from one of the largest solar eruption that Aditya-L1 has recorded until now.

It originated on 13 September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. The eruption's weight was 270 million tonnes – for comparison that sank Titanic was 1.5 million tonnes.

At origin, the heat was 1.8 million degrees Celsius and the energy content comparable to millions of tons of explosives – in comparison the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were 15 kilotons in scale each.

Even though these figures seem incredibly large, the scientist classifies it as a moderate event.

The space rock which wiped out prehistoric life on Earth carried enormous energy and during solar peak occurs, there may be CMEs with energy content equal to greater levels.

"In my view this eruption we analyzed happened when the Sun of typical solar activity. This establishes the standard for future comparison to evaluate what to expect during solar maximum occurs," he states.

"The learnings gained will assist in work out protective measures to be adopted safeguarding satellites in near space. They will also help achieving deeper knowledge of our space environment," he concludes.