Why the Year 2026 Will Be an Unprecedented Year for the Indian Sun Mission

Regarding India's first solar observatory, the year 2026 is expected to be truly unique.

It's the first time the spacecraft – which was placed in orbit recently – will be able to watch the Sun during the peak of its solar cycle.

As per research, this occurs roughly once every 11 years as the Sun's polarity reverses – a similar Earth scenario would be the planet's poles changing places.

This period of great turbulence. It involves the Sun changing from peaceful to violent and is marked by a huge increase in the number of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – massive bubbles of plasma that blow out from the solar corona.

Composed of ionized particles, a CME may have a mass of billions of tons and can attain velocities of up to 3,000km per second. It can head out in any direction, even toward our planet. At maximum velocity, it would take an ejection about half a day to cover the 150 million km between Earth and the Sun.

"In the normal or quiet periods, our star launches two to three CMEs daily," explains an astrophysics expert. "Next year, we expect them to be over ten daily."

Researching coronal mass ejections ranks among the key research goals for the Indian maiden solar mission. Firstly, because the ejections provide an opportunity to learn about the Sun in the center of our planetary system, and secondly, since events occurring on the solar surface threaten systems on Earth and in orbit.

Impacts on Our Planet and Orbital Systems

CMEs rarely pose a direct threat to people, but they do affect life on Earth through generating magnetic disturbances that impact the weather in near space, where nearly thousands of spacecraft, including many from India, are stationed.

"The most spectacular displays from solar eruptions include northern lights, which are direct evidence that charged particles from Sun journey toward our planet," the scientist explains.

"But they can also make all the electronics on a satellite fail, knock down electrical networks and affect weather and communication satellites."

Past Solar Events

• The strongest solar storm ever recorded was the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out communication systems worldwide
• During 1989, a part of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, leaving millions in darkness for hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disturbed air traffic control, leading to chaos across Scandinavia and various European air hubs
• In February 2022, a CME had led to 38 commercial satellites being lost

If we are able to see what happens in the solar atmosphere and detect solar activity or solar eruption as it happens, measure its heat at origin and track its trajectory, this serves as advanced warning to switch off power grids and satellites redirecting them out of harm's way.

Aditya-L1's Special Capability

While other space observatories observing the Sun, Aditya-L1 has an advantage compared to rivals regarding watching the corona.

"The instrument is the exact size enabling it to nearly mimic the Moon, 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, including during solar events," notes the expert.

In other words, the coronagraph functions as an artificial Moon, obscuring the Sun's bright surface allowing scientists continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – a feat natural eclipses provide only during specific moments.

Additionally, this is the only mission capable of examining solar events using optical wavelengths, enabling it to measure a CME's temperature and heat energy – key clues that show how strong of an eruption when traveling our direction.

Readiness for Maximum Activity

To prepare for the upcoming solar maximum, scientists worked together to study the data gathered from a major solar eruption that Aditya-L1 has observed recently.

This event began in September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. Its mass totaled billions of tons – for comparison that sank Titanic weighed much less.

At origin, its temperature was 1.8 million degrees Celsius with energy equivalent was equivalent to 2.2 million megatons of explosives – relative to nuclear weapons used in Japan were much smaller in scale respectively.

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

The space rock that eliminated the dinosaurs on Earth was 100 million megatons and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see CMEs with energy content equal to greater levels.

"I consider 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 help us developing the countermeasures to be adopted safeguarding spacecraft in orbit. They will also help achieving a better understanding of near-Earth space," he concludes.