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

This marks the initial occasion the spacecraft – which was placed in orbit last year – can observe our star during the peak of its solar cycle.

As per research, this occurs roughly every 11 years as the Sun's polarity reverses – the Earth equivalent could be the planet's poles changing places.

It's a time marked by intense activity. It sees the Sun transition from peaceful to violent and is marked by a significant rise in the number of solar eruptions and massive solar flares – enormous clouds of plasma that erupt of the Sun's outermost layer.

Composed of ionized particles, a coronal mass ejection may have a mass of billions of tons and reach a speed exceeding 2,000 miles per second. It can head out toward various directions, including towards our planet. At top speed, it would take an ejection 15 hours to traverse the 150 million km between Earth and the Sun.

"During typical or low-activity times, the Sun launches two to three CMEs daily," says an astrophysics expert. "In 2026, we expect there will be 10 or more daily."

Researching coronal mass ejections is one of the key scientific objectives for the Indian maiden solar mission. Firstly, because the ejections offer a chance to study the star at the centre of our solar system, and two, because activities occurring on the Sun threaten systems on our planet and in space.

Effects on Our Planet and Space Infrastructure

CMEs rarely pose a direct threat to people, but they do affect life on Earth through generating magnetic disturbances that impact the weather in Earth's vicinity, where about thousands of spacecraft, comprising many from India, orbit.

"The most beautiful displays of a CME include northern lights, which are direct evidence that charged particles from our star journey to Earth," the expert clarifies.

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

Past Solar Events

• The strongest solar storm in history occurred during the Carrington Event that disabled telegraph lines across the globe
• During 1989, a part of Canadian electrical network failed, affecting millions without power for hours
• During late 2015, solar storms disrupted flight operations, causing chaos across Scandinavia and some other European airports
• Recently in 2022, a CME caused dozens of spacecraft being lost

If we are able to see what happens on the Sun's corona and detect solar activity or a coronal mass ejection in real time, measure its heat at the source and track its trajectory, this serves as advanced warning to shut down power grids and spacecraft redirecting them out of harm's way.

The Mission's Unique Advantage

There are other space observatories observing our star, Aditya-L1 holds an edge compared to rivals 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 and allowing it an uninterrupted view of almost all solar atmosphere 24 hours a day, throughout the year, even during solar events," notes the researcher.

Essentially, the coronagraph functions as an artificial Moon, obscuring the Sun's bright surface to let researchers continuously observe its faint outer corona – something the real Moon provide only during specific moments.

Moreover, this is the only mission that can study eruptions in visible light, letting it determine eruption heat and thermal output – crucial data indicating how strong a CME would be when traveling toward Earth.

Readiness for Peak Period

In preparation for next year's solar maximum, scientists worked together analyzing the data obtained from a major solar eruption recorded by the mission has recorded until now.

It originated on 13 September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. Its mass was 270 million tonnes – for comparison that sank Titanic weighed much less.

Initially, the heat reached extreme levels with energy equivalent comparable to millions of tons of TNT – in comparison nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were 15 kilotons in scale each.

Although the numbers seem incredibly large, the expert classifies it as a "medium-sized" one.

The asteroid that eliminated the dinosaurs on our planet was 100 million megatons and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see CMEs with energy content equal to even more than that.

"In my view this eruption we evaluated happened when the Sun of typical solar activity. This establishes the benchmark that we'll be using to evaluate what to expect when the maximum activity cycle arrives," he states.

"The insights gained will assist in work out the countermeasures to be adopted safeguarding spacecraft in near space. They will also help us gain deeper knowledge of our space environment," he concludes.