Why the Year 2026 Will Be a Year Like No Other for the Indian Solar Observation Mission

For Aditya-L1, 2026 is expected to be like no other.

It's the first time the spacecraft – that entered into space last year – can watch the Sun when it reaches its maximum activity cycle.

According to research, it comes approximately once every 11 years as the Sun's magnetic poles flip – the Earth equivalent could be the planet's poles swapping positions.

It's a time marked by intense activity. It involves the Sun changing from calm to stormy and is marked by a significant rise in the frequency of solar storms and massive solar flares – enormous clouds of plasma that blow out of the Sun's outermost layer.

Composed of charged particles, a coronal mass ejection can weigh up to a trillion kilograms and can attain a speed of up to 3,000km per second. It can travel in any direction, including towards the Earth. At maximum velocity, the journey takes an ejection 15 hours to cover the vast distance between Earth and the Sun.

"During typical or low-activity times, the Sun emits two to three CMEs daily," says a leading scientist. "In 2026, we expect there will be 10 or more daily."

Studying CMEs ranks among the most important research goals of India's first solar observatory. Firstly, because the ejections offer a chance to learn about the Sun at the centre of our planetary system, and two, because activities that take place on the solar surface endanger infrastructure on Earth and in orbit.

Effects on Earth and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections seldom present a direct threat to people, but they do affect our planet by causing geomagnetic storms affecting conditions in Earth's vicinity, where nearly thousands of spacecraft, comprising Indian satellites, orbit.

"The most spectacular manifestations from solar eruptions include northern lights, being direct evidence that charged particles from our star are travelling to Earth," the scientist clarifies.

"However, they may make all the electronics on a satellite malfunction, knock down power grids and disrupt meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Historical Solar Events

• The most powerful solar event in history was the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out communication systems across the globe
• During 1989, sections of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, affecting millions in darkness for nine hours
• During late 2015, solar storms disturbed air traffic control, causing disruption across Scandinavia and various European air hubs
• Recently in 2022, an ejection caused 38 commercial satellites failing

If we are able to see events on the Sun's corona and spot a solar storm or solar eruption as it happens, measure its heat at the source and track its trajectory, this serves as a forewarning to shut down power grids and satellites redirecting them out of harm's way.

Aditya-L1's Unique Advantage

While other solar missions watching the Sun, Aditya-L1 has an advantage compared to rivals regarding studying the solar atmosphere.

"The instrument has perfect dimensions enabling it to effectively simulate the Moon, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere and allowing it an uninterrupted view of almost all of the corona 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, even during solar events," says the expert.

Essentially, the coronagraph acts like a synthetic eclipse, obscuring the Sun's bright surface to let scientists constantly study its faint outer corona – something natural eclipses provide only during specific moments.

Additionally, this is the only mission capable of examining eruptions using optical wavelengths, letting it measure a CME's temperature and heat energy – crucial data that show the intensity of an eruption when traveling toward Earth.

Preparation for Maximum Activity

To prepare for the upcoming peak solar activity period, researchers worked together analyzing the data gathered from a major CMEs recorded by the mission has observed recently.

It originated in September 2024 during early hours. The eruption's weight was 270 million tonnes – for comparison that struck the ship was 1.5 million tonnes.

Initially, its temperature was 1.8 million degrees Celsius and the energy content was equivalent to millions of tons of TNT – relative to nuclear weapons used in Japan were 15 kilotons and 21 kilotons respectively.

Even though the numbers make it sound massive, the expert describes it as a "medium-sized" one.

The asteroid which wiped out the dinosaurs on Earth was 100 million megatons and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see eruptions with energy content matching greater levels.

"In my view the CME we evaluated happened when the Sun was in the normal activity phase. Now this sets 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 work out the countermeasures to implement to protect satellites in near space. They will also help achieving deeper knowledge of our space environment," he adds.