The Reason the Year 2026 Will Be a Year Like No Other for the Indian Solar Observation Mission

For Aditya-L1, the year 2026 will be truly unique.

This marks the initial occasion the observatory – that entered into space last year – can watch the Sun during the peak of its solar cycle.

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

This period of great turbulence. It sees our star transition from peaceful to violent and features a significant rise in the frequency of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – enormous clouds of fire that erupt from the solar corona.

Made up of charged particles, a coronal mass ejection can weigh of billions of tons and reach velocities of up to 3,000km per second. It can travel toward various directions, including towards our planet. At maximum velocity, it would take an ejection 15 hours to cover the 150 million km between Earth and the Sun.

"During typical or low-activity times, the Sun launches a few solar eruptions a day," says a leading scientist. "In 2026, we expect there will be 10 or more daily."

Studying CMEs is one of the key scientific objectives of India's first solar observatory. Firstly, because the ejections offer a chance to study the star at the centre of our planetary system, and secondly, because activities that take place on the Sun threaten infrastructure on our planet and in space.

Effects on Earth and Space Infrastructure

Coronal mass ejections rarely pose a direct threat to human life, yet they impact life on Earth by causing geomagnetic storms that impact conditions in near space, where nearly thousands of spacecraft, including many from India, orbit.

"The most spectacular displays of a CME include northern lights, which are a clear example that charged particles from Sun are travelling to Earth," the scientist clarifies.

"But they can also make all the electronics aboard spacecraft malfunction, knock down power grids and affect meteorological and telecom spacecraft."

Historical Solar Incidents

• The strongest solar storm in history was the Carrington Event which knocked out telegraph lines across the globe
• During 1989, a part of Quebec's power grid failed, affecting millions without power for hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disturbed flight operations, causing disruption in Sweden and various European air hubs
• Recently in 2022, a CME caused 38 commercial satellites failing

With capability to observe what happens in the solar atmosphere and detect a solar storm or a coronal mass ejection in real time, record its temperature at the source and watch its path, this serves as advanced warning to shut down electrical systems and satellites and move them to safety.

The Mission's Unique Advantage

While other space observatories watching the Sun, India's spacecraft holds an edge compared to rivals regarding studying the solar atmosphere.

"The instrument has perfect dimensions enabling it to effectively simulate the Moon, fully covering the solar disk permitting an uninterrupted view of almost all solar atmosphere around the clock, 365 days a year, including during solar events," notes the expert.

Essentially, the coronagraph functions as an artificial Moon, blocking the Sun's bright surface to let scientists constantly study its faint outer corona – a feat natural eclipses does only during specific moments.

Additionally, this is the only mission that can study solar events using optical wavelengths, enabling it to measure a CME's temperature and heat energy – crucial data that show the intensity a CME would be if it headed toward Earth.

Readiness for Maximum Activity

In preparation for next year's solar maximum, researchers collaborated to study information 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 was 270 million tonnes – for comparison that sank Titanic weighed much less.

At origin, the heat reached extreme levels with energy equivalent comparable to 2.2 million megatons of explosives – relative to the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller in scale each.

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

The space rock that eliminated the dinosaurs on our planet was 100 million megatons and when solar peak occurs, we could see CMEs carrying power equal to greater levels.

"In my view this eruption we analyzed happened during periods was in the normal activity phase. This establishes the standard for future comparison assessing what is in store during solar maximum arrives," he says.

"The learnings from this will help us developing protective measures to implement safeguarding spacecraft in near space. Additionally, they'll aid us gain deeper knowledge of our space environment," he adds.