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

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

As per research, this occurs approximately every 11 years when the Sun's magnetic poles flip – a similar Earth scenario would be the planet's poles changing places.

It's a time of great turbulence. It sees the Sun transition 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 erupt of the Sun's outermost layer.

Made up of ionized particles, a CME can weigh of billions of tons and reach velocities of up to 3,000km per second. It can head out toward various directions, even toward the Earth. At maximum velocity, it would take an ejection 15 hours to cover the 150 million km Earth-Sun distance.

"In the normal or quiet periods, the Sun launches a few solar eruptions daily," explains an astrophysics expert. "Next year, we expect them to be over ten each day."

Studying CMEs ranks among the key research goals of India's maiden solar mission. One, because the ejections provide an opportunity to learn about the star at the centre of our solar system, and two, since events occurring on the solar surface endanger infrastructure on Earth and in orbit.

Impacts on Our Planet and Orbital Systems

CMEs seldom present a direct threat to human life, but they do affect our planet through generating magnetic disturbances affecting conditions in Earth's vicinity, where nearly thousands of spacecraft, including Indian satellites, orbit.

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

"However, they may make all the electronics aboard spacecraft malfunction, disable power grids and affect weather and communication satellites."

Past Solar Incidents

• The strongest solar storm in history occurred during the Carrington Event that disabled communication systems worldwide
• In 1989, a part of Canadian electrical network was knocked out, affecting millions without power for hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disrupted flight operations, causing chaos across Scandinavia and some other European airports
• Recently in 2022, a CME caused 38 commercial satellites failing

With capability to observe events in the solar atmosphere and detect a solar storm or a coronal mass ejection in real time, record its temperature at origin and track its path, it can work as advanced warning to shut down electrical systems and spacecraft redirecting them out of harm's way.

The Mission's Unique Advantage

While other space observatories watching the Sun, India's spacecraft holds an edge compared to rivals regarding studying the solar atmosphere.

"The instrument has perfect dimensions enabling it to effectively simulate lunar coverage, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere permitting continuous observation of almost all solar atmosphere around the clock, throughout the year, including during eclipses and occultations," notes the researcher.

In other words, the coronagraph functions as an artificial Moon, blocking the Sun's bright surface to let scientists constantly study the dim solar atmosphere – a feat the real Moon does only during specific moments.

Moreover, it's unique capable of examining eruptions in visible light, 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 Peak Period

In preparation for the upcoming solar maximum, scientists worked together to study the data obtained from one of the largest solar eruption that Aditya-L1 has observed recently.

This event began on 13 September 2024 during early hours. Its mass totaled billions of tons – for comparison that struck the ship was 1.5 million tonnes.

Initially, its temperature was 1.8 million degrees Celsius with energy equivalent was equivalent to millions of tons of explosives – relative to the atomic bombs used in Japan were 15 kilotons and 21 kilotons respectively.

Although these figures make it sound massive, the expert describes it as a "medium-sized" one.

The asteroid which wiped out the dinosaurs on our planet carried enormous energy and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see CMEs with energy content matching greater levels.

"In my view this eruption we evaluated happened when the Sun of typical solar activity. Now this sets the benchmark that we'll be using to evaluate what is in store when the maximum activity cycle arrives," he states.

"The learnings gained will help us developing the countermeasures to implement to protect satellites in near space. They will also help us gain deeper knowledge of our space environment," he concludes.