🔗 Share this article The Reason 2026 Is Set to Be an Unprecedented Year for India's Sun Mission A massive solar eruption can be several times larger than Earth Regarding Aditya-L1, 2026 is expected to be like no other. This marks the initial occasion the spacecraft – which was placed in orbit last year – will be able to observe our star during the peak of its solar cycle. As per scientific data, this occurs approximately once every 11 years when the Sun's magnetic poles flip – a similar Earth scenario could be the North and South poles swapping positions. It's a time marked by intense activity. It sees the Sun transition from calm to stormy and features a huge increase in the number of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – enormous clouds of plasma that erupt of the Sun's outermost layer. Composed of charged particles, a CME can weigh of billions of tons and can attain velocities exceeding 2,000 miles per second. It can travel in any direction, including towards our planet. At maximum velocity, the journey takes a CME 15 hours to traverse the 150 million km Earth-Sun distance. "In the normal or low-activity times, the Sun launches a few solar eruptions a day," explains a leading scientist. "Next year, it's anticipated them to be 10 or more daily." Researching CMEs ranks among the key scientific objectives for the Indian maiden solar mission. Firstly, because the ejections provide an opportunity to learn about the star in the center of our planetary system, and two, because activities that take place on the solar surface threaten infrastructure on Earth and in orbit. Northern lights illuminated the night sky across America last autumn Effects on Earth and Space Infrastructure Coronal mass ejections rarely pose immediate danger to people, yet they impact our planet through generating magnetic disturbances that impact the weather in Earth's vicinity, where nearly 11,000 satellites, comprising many from India, are stationed. "The most spectacular manifestations of a CME include northern lights, which are a clear example that solar particles from our star journey toward our planet," the scientist explains. "But they can also cause electronic systems aboard spacecraft malfunction, knock down power grids and affect weather and communication satellites." Historical Solar Incidents The most powerful solar storm ever recorded occurred during the Carrington Event which knocked out communication systems across the globe During 1989, a part of Quebec's power grid failed, leaving six million people in darkness for hours In November 2015, solar storms disrupted flight operations, leading to disruption in Sweden and various European air hubs Recently in 2022, a CME had led to dozens of spacecraft failing If we are able 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 watch its trajectory, it can work as advanced warning to switch off power grids and satellites and move them to safety. The solar atmosphere can be seen during a total solar eclipse from Earth Aditya-L1's Unique Advantage While other solar missions observing our star, India's spacecraft holds an edge over others regarding studying the solar atmosphere. "The instrument has perfect dimensions enabling it to effectively simulate the Moon, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere and allowing it an uninterrupted view of almost all of the corona 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, even during eclipses and occultations," notes the researcher. Essentially, the coronagraph acts like a synthetic eclipse, blocking the solar glare to let scientists continuously observe its faint outer corona – something natural eclipses does only during specific moments. Moreover, this is the only mission capable of examining solar events in visible light, enabling it to determine eruption heat and heat energy – crucial data that show the intensity of an eruption if it headed toward Earth. Preparation for Peak Period In preparation for the upcoming solar maximum, researchers worked together analyzing the data gathered from one of the largest solar eruption recorded by the mission has observed recently. It originated on 13 September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. Its mass totaled billions of tons – for comparison that sank Titanic weighed much less. At origin, the heat was 1.8 million degrees Celsius with energy equivalent comparable to millions of tons of TNT – relative to the atomic bombs used in Japan were much smaller and 21 kilotons respectively. Even though these figures seem incredibly large, the scientist classifies it as a moderate event. The asteroid that eliminated the dinosaurs on Earth carried enormous energy and during the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see eruptions carrying power matching greater levels. "In my view the CME we evaluated happened during periods was in the normal activity phase. Now this sets the benchmark that we'll be using to evaluate what is in store when the maximum activity cycle arrives," he says. "The learnings from this will assist in work out the countermeasures to implement to protect spacecraft in near space. They will also help achieving a better understanding of near-Earth space," he concludes.