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

It's the first time the spacecraft – which was placed in orbit recently – can watch the Sun when it reaches its maximum activity cycle.

According to scientific data, this occurs roughly once every 11 years when the Sun's magnetic poles flip – a similar Earth scenario could be the North and South poles changing places.

It's a time marked by intense activity. It involves our star changing from peaceful to violent and is marked by a huge increase in the frequency of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – massive bubbles of fire that blow out of the Sun's outermost layer.

Composed of ionized particles, a coronal mass ejection can weigh up to a trillion kilograms and can attain a speed exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can travel toward various directions, including towards the Earth. At top speed, it would take a CME about half a day to traverse the 150 million km between Earth and the Sun.

"During typical or low-activity times, our star launches a few solar eruptions daily," explains an astrophysics expert. "Next year, we expect them to be 10 or more each day."

Researching coronal mass ejections is one of the key scientific objectives for the Indian maiden solar mission. Firstly, as these eruptions offer a chance to learn about the star at the centre of our solar system, and secondly, since events occurring on the solar surface threaten systems on Earth and in orbit.

Impacts on Earth and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections seldom present a direct threat to people, but they do affect life on Earth through generating magnetic disturbances that impact conditions in Earth's vicinity, where nearly thousands of spacecraft, comprising Indian satellites, are stationed.

"The most spectacular manifestations from solar eruptions are auroras, being direct evidence that charged particles from Sun journey to Earth," the scientist clarifies.

"However, they may cause electronic systems on a satellite fail, knock down power grids and disrupt weather and communication satellites."

Historical Solar Events

• The most powerful solar event in history was the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled telegraph lines across the globe
• During 1989, sections of Canadian electrical network failed, affecting millions in darkness for hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disturbed air traffic control, leading to chaos across Scandinavia and some other European airports
• In February 2022, a CME caused dozens of spacecraft failing

If we are able to observe events in the solar atmosphere and spot a solar storm or a coronal mass ejection in real time, record its temperature at the source and watch its trajectory, it can work as a forewarning to shut down electrical systems and spacecraft and move them out of harm's way.

Aditya-L1's Special Capability

There are other space observatories observing our star, India's spacecraft has an advantage over others when it comes to studying the solar atmosphere.

"The instrument is the exact size that lets it effectively simulate the Moon, fully covering the solar disk permitting an uninterrupted view of almost all solar atmosphere around the clock, 365 days a year, even during solar events," notes the expert.

In other words, this instrument functions as a synthetic eclipse, obscuring the Sun's bright surface to let scientists continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – something the real Moon does only during specific moments.

Additionally, it's unique that can study eruptions in visible light, letting it measure eruption heat and thermal output – key clues indicating how strong a CME would be when traveling our direction.

Preparation for Maximum Activity

To prepare for next year's peak solar activity period, researchers collaborated analyzing the data gathered from one of the largest CMEs recorded by the mission has recorded until now.

This event began in September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. The eruption's weight was 270 million tonnes – for comparison that struck the ship weighed much less.

At origin, the heat reached extreme levels with energy equivalent comparable to millions of tons of TNT – in comparison the atomic bombs used in Japan were much smaller in scale respectively.

Although the numbers seem massive, the expert describes it as a moderate event.

The space rock which wiped out the dinosaurs on Earth carried enormous energy and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see eruptions with energy content matching even more than that.

"In my view the CME we evaluated happened during periods was in the normal activity phase. Now this sets the standard for future comparison to evaluate what is in store when the maximum activity cycle arrives," he states.

"The learnings gained will assist in developing the countermeasures to implement safeguarding satellites in near space. Additionally, they'll aid achieving a better understanding of our space environment," he adds.