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

It's the first time the spacecraft – which was placed in orbit recently – can observe our star during its maximum activity cycle.

As per research, this occurs approximately once every 11 years as the Sun's polarity reverses – the Earth equivalent could be the planet's poles swapping positions.

This period marked by intense activity. It involves the Sun transition from peaceful to violent and features a huge increase in the number of solar storms and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – enormous clouds of fire that erupt of the Sun's outermost layer.

Made up of charged particles, a coronal mass ejection may have a mass of billions of tons and reach velocities exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can travel toward various directions, including towards our planet. At maximum velocity, the journey takes an ejection about half a day to traverse the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"During typical or low-activity times, the Sun launches two to three CMEs daily," says an astrophysics expert. "Next year, it's anticipated them to be over ten daily."

Researching CMEs ranks among the key scientific objectives for the Indian maiden solar mission. Firstly, because the ejections provide an opportunity to study the Sun in the center of our solar system, and two, since events that take place on the solar surface endanger systems on Earth and in orbit.

Impacts on Earth and Orbital Systems

CMEs rarely pose immediate danger to people, yet they impact our planet through generating geomagnetic storms affecting conditions in near space, where nearly thousands of spacecraft, including many from India, are stationed.

"The most beautiful displays from solar eruptions include northern lights, being a clear example that solar particles from our star journey toward our planet," the scientist clarifies.

"However, they may make all the electronics aboard spacecraft malfunction, knock down power grids and disrupt weather and communication satellites."

Past Solar Events

• The most powerful solar event in history occurred during the Carrington Event which knocked out communication systems worldwide
• During 1989, a part of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, leaving six million people without power for hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disturbed flight operations, causing chaos in Sweden and some other European airports
• In February 2022, a CME had led to 38 commercial satellites being lost

If we are able to observe events 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 advanced warning to switch off electrical systems and spacecraft and move them to safety.

The Mission's Unique Advantage

While other space observatories observing the Sun, Aditya-L1 holds an edge over others regarding watching the corona.

"The instrument is the exact size that lets it nearly mimic the Moon, completely blocking the solar disk and allowing it an uninterrupted view of nearly the entire solar atmosphere 24 hours a day, throughout the year, even during eclipses and occultations," says the researcher.

Essentially, this instrument acts like an artificial Moon, blocking the Sun's bright surface to let scientists continuously observe its faint outer corona – a feat natural eclipses does only during specific moments.

Additionally, this is the only mission capable of examining solar events in visible light, letting it determine eruption heat and heat energy – key clues that show how strong a CME would be if it headed toward Earth.

Preparation for Peak Period

To prepare for the upcoming peak solar activity period, scientists worked together to study information gathered from a major solar eruption that Aditya-L1 has observed recently.

This event began on 13 September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. Its mass totaled billions of tons – for comparison that struck the ship was 1.5 million tonnes.

At origin, its temperature was 1.8 million degrees Celsius and the energy content comparable to millions of tons of TNT – relative to nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were 15 kilotons and 21 kilotons each.

Although the numbers seem massive, the scientist classifies it as a "medium-sized" one.

The asteroid which wiped out prehistoric life on Earth carried enormous energy and during solar peak occurs, we could see CMEs carrying power matching greater levels.

"In my view the CME we evaluated to have occurred 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 occurs," he says.

"The learnings gained will assist in developing the countermeasures to implement safeguarding satellites in orbit. Additionally, they'll aid achieving a better understanding of our space environment," he concludes.