Why 2026 Will Be a Year Like No Other for India's Sun Mission

Regarding Aditya-L1, 2026 is expected to be truly unique.

This marks the initial occasion the observatory – which was placed in orbit last year – will be able to observe the Sun during its maximum activity cycle.

According to scientific data, this occurs roughly once every 11 years as the Sun's polarity reverses – the Earth equivalent would be the planet's poles swapping positions.

It's a time marked by intense activity. It involves our star transition from calm to stormy and features a huge increase in the frequency of solar storms and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – massive bubbles of fire that blow out from the solar corona.

Made up of charged particles, a CME may have a mass up to a trillion kilograms and can attain velocities of up to 3,000km per second. It can head out in any direction, even toward the Earth. At top speed, the journey takes a CME about half a day to cover the 150 million km between Earth and the Sun.

"In the normal or quiet periods, the Sun emits a few solar eruptions daily," says a leading scientist. "In 2026, we expect there will be 10 or more daily."

Studying CMEs ranks among the key research goals of India's first solar observatory. One, because the ejections provide an opportunity to study the star at the centre of our planetary system, and two, since events that take place on the Sun threaten systems on our planet and in space.

Impacts on Earth and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections rarely pose a direct threat to human life, yet they impact life on Earth by causing magnetic disturbances affecting the weather in near space, where about thousands of spacecraft, including Indian satellites, are stationed.

"The most spectacular displays from solar eruptions are auroras, which are direct evidence that solar particles from Sun are travelling to Earth," the scientist explains.

"But they can also cause electronic systems on a satellite fail, knock down electrical networks and affect weather and communication satellites."

Historical Solar Events

• The strongest solar storm ever recorded was the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled communication systems worldwide
• In 1989, a part of Canadian electrical network failed, leaving millions without power for hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disrupted flight operations, causing chaos in Sweden and some other European airports
• Recently in 2022, a CME had led to 38 commercial satellites being lost

With capability to observe what happens on the Sun's corona and spot a solar storm or solar eruption as it happens, record its temperature at origin and track 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 solar missions observing the Sun, India's spacecraft has an advantage compared to rivals when it comes to studying the solar atmosphere.

"The instrument has perfect dimensions enabling it to nearly mimic the Moon, fully covering the Sun's photosphere permitting an uninterrupted view of nearly the entire of the corona 24 hours a day, throughout the year, even during solar events," notes the expert.

In other words, the coronagraph functions as a synthetic eclipse, obscuring the solar glare to let scientists continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – something the real Moon provide only during specific moments.

Moreover, it's unique capable of examining solar events using optical wavelengths, letting it measure a CME's temperature and thermal output – crucial data that show the intensity of an eruption if it headed our direction.

Preparation for Maximum Activity

To prepare for the upcoming solar maximum, scientists collaborated analyzing the data gathered from a major solar eruption that Aditya-L1 has observed recently.

It originated on 13 September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. Its mass was 270 million tonnes – for comparison that struck the ship was 1.5 million tonnes.

At origin, the heat reached extreme levels and the energy content comparable to 2.2 million megatons of TNT – relative to the atomic bombs used in Japan were 15 kilotons in scale respectively.

Even though the numbers make it sound incredibly large, the expert describes it as a moderate event.

The space rock which wiped out prehistoric life on our planet was 100 million megatons and during solar peak occurs, we could see CMEs with energy content matching even more than that.

"I consider the CME we analyzed to have occurred during periods of typical solar activity. Now this sets the standard for future comparison to evaluate what is in store when the maximum activity cycle occurs," he says.

"The learnings from this will assist in developing protective measures to implement safeguarding spacecraft in orbit. Additionally, they'll aid us gain a better understanding of our space environment," he concludes.