Why the Year 2026 Is Set to Be an Unprecedented Year for the Indian Solar Observation Mission

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

It's the first time the spacecraft – which was placed in orbit recently – will be able to observe the Sun during the peak of its solar cycle.

As per scientific data, this occurs approximately every 11 years as the Sun's magnetic poles flip – the Earth equivalent would be the North and South poles changing places.

This period marked by intense activity. It sees our star transition from peaceful to violent and features a huge increase in the frequency of solar eruptions and massive solar flares – enormous clouds of fire that blow out of the Sun's outermost layer.

Made up of charged particles, a coronal mass ejection may have a mass up to a trillion kilograms and reach velocities exceeding 2,000 miles per second. It can travel in any direction, including towards the Earth. At maximum velocity, it would take a CME about half a day to cover the 150 million km Earth-Sun distance.

"During typical or low-activity times, our star launches a few solar eruptions daily," explains a leading scientist. "In 2026, it's anticipated them to be 10 or more daily."

Studying coronal mass ejections is one of the key research goals for the Indian first solar observatory. One, because the ejections provide an opportunity to study the Sun at the centre of our planetary system, and two, since events that take place on the Sun endanger infrastructure on Earth and in orbit.

Impacts on Earth and Space Infrastructure

Coronal mass ejections seldom present a direct threat to human life, yet they impact our planet through generating magnetic disturbances that impact the weather in Earth's vicinity, where nearly 11,000 satellites, comprising Indian satellites, are stationed.

"The most beautiful displays of a CME include northern lights, being direct evidence that solar particles from our star are travelling toward our planet," the expert clarifies.

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

Historical Solar Incidents

• The most powerful solar storm ever recorded was the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out communication systems worldwide
• In 1989, sections of Canadian electrical network was knocked out, leaving six million people without power for nine hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disrupted air traffic control, causing chaos across Scandinavia and some other European air hubs
• In February 2022, an ejection caused 38 commercial satellites being lost

With capability to see what happens on the Sun's corona and spot a solar storm or a coronal mass ejection as it happens, measure its heat at the source and watch its trajectory, this serves as advanced warning to switch off electrical systems and spacecraft and move them out of harm's way.

The Mission's Special Capability

While other space observatories observing our star, India's spacecraft has an advantage over others regarding watching the corona.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph is the exact size that lets it nearly mimic the Moon, fully covering the Sun's photosphere and allowing it continuous observation of nearly the entire of the corona 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, even during solar events," notes the researcher.

Essentially, this instrument functions as a synthetic eclipse, obscuring the Sun's bright surface allowing scientists continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – something the real Moon provide only during eclipses.

Additionally, this is the only mission capable of examining solar events in visible light, enabling it to measure a CME's temperature and thermal output – key clues indicating how strong a CME would be if it headed toward Earth.

Preparation for Maximum Activity

In preparation for the upcoming peak solar activity period, researchers collaborated to study information obtained from a major solar eruption that Aditya-L1 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, the heat was 1.8 million degrees Celsius and the energy content was equivalent to millions of tons of explosives – in comparison nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller and 21 kilotons each.

Although the numbers make it sound incredibly large, the expert describes it as a "medium-sized" one.

The space rock that eliminated the dinosaurs on our planet was 100 million megatons and during solar peak occurs, there may be eruptions with energy content equal to greater levels.

"I consider the CME we analyzed happened when the Sun of typical solar activity. This establishes the standard for future comparison to evaluate what to expect during solar maximum arrives," he says.

"The learnings from this will assist in work out protective measures to be adopted to protect satellites in orbit. Additionally, they'll aid achieving a better understanding of near-Earth space," he concludes.