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

It's the first time the spacecraft – that entered into space recently – can watch our star when it reaches the peak of its solar cycle.

According to scientific data, it comes approximately once every 11 years when the Sun's magnetic poles flip – a similar Earth scenario could be the planet's poles swapping positions.

This period of great turbulence. It involves our star transition from peaceful to violent and features a significant rise in the frequency of solar storms and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – enormous clouds of fire that blow out from the solar corona.

Composed of charged particles, a CME may have a mass up to a trillion kilograms and can attain velocities of up to 3,000km each second. It can head out toward various directions, including towards our planet. At maximum velocity, the journey takes an ejection about half a day to traverse the vast distance between Earth and the Sun.

"During typical or quiet periods, our star emits two to three CMEs daily," explains a leading scientist. "Next year, it's anticipated them to be over ten daily."

Researching CMEs ranks among the key research goals for the Indian first solar observatory. Firstly, as these eruptions provide an opportunity to learn about the Sun in the center of our solar system, and secondly, since events that take place on the solar surface threaten infrastructure on our planet and in space.

Impacts on Earth and Space Infrastructure

Coronal mass ejections rarely pose immediate danger to human life, but they do affect life on Earth by causing geomagnetic storms that impact conditions in near space, where nearly 11,000 satellites, comprising Indian satellites, orbit.

"The most spectacular displays of a CME include northern lights, which are direct evidence that solar particles from Sun are travelling to Earth," the expert clarifies.

"But they can also make all the electronics aboard spacecraft malfunction, knock down power grids and affect meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Historical Solar Incidents

• The most powerful solar storm ever recorded occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled telegraph lines worldwide
• In 1989, a part of Canadian electrical network was knocked out, affecting millions in darkness for nine hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disturbed air traffic control, leading to chaos in Sweden and various European airports
• In February 2022, a CME caused dozens of spacecraft being lost

If we are able to observe events on the Sun's corona and spot solar activity or solar eruption as it happens, record its temperature at the source and watch its trajectory, this serves as advanced warning to switch off electrical systems and satellites redirecting them out of harm's way.

The Mission's Special Capability

There are other solar missions observing the Sun, India's spacecraft holds an edge compared to rivals when it comes to studying the solar atmosphere.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph is the exact size enabling it to nearly mimic the Moon, fully covering the Sun's photosphere and allowing it an uninterrupted view of nearly the entire solar atmosphere around the clock, throughout the year, even during eclipses and occultations," says the expert.

In other words, the coronagraph acts like a synthetic eclipse, blocking the solar glare allowing researchers continuously observe its faint outer corona – something the real Moon provide only during eclipses.

Moreover, it's unique capable of examining solar events using optical wavelengths, enabling it to measure eruption heat and heat energy – crucial data indicating how strong of an eruption if it headed toward Earth.

Readiness for Maximum Activity

To prepare for the upcoming solar maximum, researchers collaborated to study information obtained from one of the largest CMEs recorded by the mission has recorded until now.

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

At origin, its temperature was 1.8 million degrees Celsius and the energy content was equivalent to millions of tons of TNT – relative to the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were 15 kilotons in scale respectively.

Even though these figures seem massive, the expert classifies it as a moderate event.

The asteroid that eliminated prehistoric life on our planet was 100 million megatons and during the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see eruptions carrying power equal to even more than that.

"I consider 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 says.

"The insights from this will help us work out the countermeasures to be adopted safeguarding spacecraft in near space. Additionally, they'll aid us gain deeper knowledge of near-Earth space," he concludes.