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For Aditya-L1, 2026 will be like no other.

It's the first time the spacecraft – that entered in orbit last year – can observe our star during its maximum activity cycle.

According to scientific data, this occurs approximately every 11 years when the Sun's polarity reverses – a similar Earth scenario would be the planet's poles swapping positions.

It's a time of great turbulence. It involves the Sun transition from peaceful to violent and is marked by a huge increase in the frequency of solar storms and massive solar flares – enormous clouds of fire that erupt from the solar corona.

Composed of charged particles, a coronal mass ejection may have a mass of billions of tons and can attain velocities exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can head out toward various directions, including towards the Earth. At top speed, it would take a CME 15 hours to cover the 150 million km Earth-Sun distance.

"During typical or low-activity times, our star launches a few solar eruptions daily," says an astrophysics expert. "In 2026, it's anticipated there will be over ten each day."

Studying CMEs is one of the most important research goals of India's maiden solar mission. One, as these eruptions provide an opportunity to learn about the star at the centre of our solar system, and two, because activities occurring on the Sun endanger systems on Earth and in space.

Impacts on Our Planet and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections seldom present a direct threat to human life, yet they impact our planet through generating geomagnetic storms affecting the weather in near space, where nearly 11,000 satellites, comprising many from India, are stationed.

"The most beautiful displays of a CME are auroras, which are a clear example that solar particles from our star are travelling to Earth," the scientist explains.

"However, they may cause electronic systems aboard spacecraft fail, knock down power grids and disrupt meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Past Solar Incidents

• The most powerful solar storm ever recorded was the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out telegraph lines worldwide
• During 1989, sections of Canadian electrical network failed, affecting millions without power for nine hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disrupted flight operations, causing disruption across Scandinavia and some other European air hubs
• Recently in 2022, an ejection had led to 38 commercial satellites failing

If we are able to see what happens on the Sun's corona and detect a solar storm or a coronal mass ejection as it happens, record its temperature at origin and watch its trajectory, this serves as advanced warning to shut down electrical systems and spacecraft and move them to safety.

Aditya-L1's Special Capability

While other solar missions observing our star, India's spacecraft holds an edge compared to rivals when it comes to studying the solar atmosphere.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph has perfect dimensions enabling it to nearly mimic the Moon, fully covering the solar disk permitting an uninterrupted view of nearly the entire solar atmosphere around the clock, throughout the year, even during eclipses and occultations," notes the researcher.

In other words, this instrument acts like an artificial Moon, blocking the solar glare allowing researchers continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – a feat the real Moon provide only during eclipses.

Moreover, this is the only mission that can study eruptions using optical wavelengths, enabling it to determine eruption heat and thermal output – key clues indicating the intensity a CME would be when traveling toward Earth.

Readiness for Maximum Activity

In preparation for next year's solar maximum, researchers worked together to study the data gathered from a major solar eruption recorded by the mission has recorded until now.

It originated in September 2024 during early hours. The eruption's weight was 270 million tonnes – for comparison that sank Titanic weighed much less.

At origin, its temperature was 1.8 million degrees Celsius with energy equivalent was equivalent to millions of tons of explosives – in comparison nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were 15 kilotons in scale respectively.

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

The space rock that eliminated the dinosaurs on Earth carried enormous energy and when solar peak occurs, we could see eruptions carrying power matching greater levels.

"I consider the CME we evaluated to have occurred during periods of typical solar activity. This establishes the benchmark for future comparison assessing what is in store when the maximum activity cycle arrives," he states.

"The insights from this will assist in developing the countermeasures to implement to protect spacecraft in orbit. They will also help achieving deeper knowledge of near-Earth space," he concludes.