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

It's the first time the spacecraft – which was placed in orbit last year – will be able to observe the Sun when it reaches the peak of its solar cycle.

According to research, this occurs roughly every 11 years when the Sun's polarity reverses – the Earth equivalent would be the North and South poles changing places.

It's a time marked by intense activity. It sees the Sun transition from calm to stormy and features a significant rise in the number of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – massive bubbles of plasma that blow out of the Sun's outermost layer.

Composed of ionized particles, a CME may have a mass of billions of tons and can attain a speed exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can head out toward various directions, even toward the Earth. At maximum velocity, the journey takes a CME 15 hours to cover the 150 million km Earth-Sun distance.

"During typical or quiet periods, the Sun emits a few solar eruptions a day," explains a leading scientist. "Next year, it's anticipated them to be over ten daily."

Studying coronal mass ejections is one of the key research goals of India's maiden solar mission. Firstly, as these eruptions provide an opportunity to study the star in the center of our planetary system, and two, since events that take place on the solar surface threaten systems on Earth and in orbit.

Impacts on Our Planet and Space Infrastructure

Coronal mass ejections seldom present a direct threat to people, but they do affect life on Earth by causing magnetic disturbances that impact the weather in Earth's vicinity, where about thousands of spacecraft, including Indian satellites, are stationed.

"The most beautiful manifestations of a CME include northern lights, which are direct evidence that solar particles from Sun journey toward our planet," the scientist explains.

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

Past Solar Events

• The most powerful solar event ever recorded was the Carrington Event which knocked out telegraph lines across the globe
• In 1989, a part of Canadian electrical network failed, affecting six million people without power for nine hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disturbed air traffic control, leading to disruption in Sweden and some other European airports
• In February 2022, a CME caused dozens of spacecraft failing

With capability to see events on the Sun's corona and detect solar activity or a coronal mass ejection as it happens, record its temperature at the source and track its path, it can work as advanced warning to shut down electrical systems and spacecraft redirecting them to safety.

The Mission's Special Capability

While other solar missions watching the Sun, Aditya-L1 holds an edge over others when it comes to studying the solar atmosphere.

"The instrument is the exact size that lets it nearly mimic lunar coverage, fully covering the solar disk permitting an uninterrupted view of nearly the entire solar atmosphere around the clock, throughout the year, even during solar events," notes the researcher.

Essentially, this instrument functions as an artificial Moon, blocking the solar glare allowing researchers constantly study the dim solar atmosphere – something natural eclipses provide only during specific moments.

Additionally, this is the only mission that can study eruptions using optical wavelengths, letting it measure a CME's temperature and heat energy – key clues that show how strong a CME would be when traveling toward Earth.

Readiness for Maximum Activity

In preparation for next year's solar maximum, researchers collaborated to study information gathered from a major CMEs that Aditya-L1 has observed recently.

It originated on 13 September 2024 during early hours. The eruption's weight was 270 million tonnes – for comparison that struck the ship weighed much less.

At origin, the heat reached extreme levels and the energy content comparable to millions of tons of TNT – relative to the atomic bombs used in Japan were 15 kilotons in scale each.

Although these figures seem massive, the scientist 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 CMEs carrying power matching greater levels.

"In my view the CME we evaluated to have occurred during periods was in the normal activity phase. This establishes the standard for future comparison assessing what is in store when the maximum activity cycle occurs," he says.

"The learnings gained will help us developing the countermeasures to implement to protect spacecraft in near space. They will also help us gain a better understanding of our space environment," he concludes.