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For Aditya-L1, the year 2026 is expected to be like no other.

It's the first time the spacecraft – that entered in orbit recently – will be able to observe the Sun when it reaches the peak of its solar cycle.

As per research, this occurs roughly once every 11 years when the Sun's polarity reverses – the Earth equivalent could be the North and South poles changing places.

It's a time of great turbulence. It involves the Sun transition from peaceful to violent and is marked by a significant rise in the frequency of solar storms and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – enormous clouds of fire that blow out of the Sun's outermost layer.

Composed of charged particles, a coronal mass ejection may have a mass up to a trillion kilograms and reach a speed exceeding 2,000 miles per second. It can travel toward various directions, including towards the Earth. At maximum velocity, it would take a CME 15 hours to traverse the 150 million km between Earth and the Sun.

"In the normal or low-activity times, our star launches two to three CMEs a day," says a leading scientist. "Next year, it's anticipated them to be over ten daily."

Studying coronal mass ejections is one of the most important research goals of India's maiden solar mission. Firstly, because the ejections offer a chance to learn about the star at the centre of our planetary system, and secondly, because activities that take place on the solar surface endanger infrastructure on Earth and in orbit.

Impacts on Earth and Space Infrastructure

CMEs seldom present a direct threat to people, but they do affect our planet through generating geomagnetic storms that impact conditions in near space, where nearly thousands of spacecraft, comprising many from India, are stationed.

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

"However, they may make all the electronics on a satellite malfunction, disable power grids and disrupt weather and communication satellites."

Historical Solar Events

• The strongest solar storm ever recorded occurred during the Carrington Event that disabled communication systems worldwide
• In 1989, a part of Quebec's power grid failed, leaving millions without power for nine hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disrupted flight operations, causing disruption in Sweden and some other European airports
• Recently in 2022, a CME caused 38 commercial satellites being lost

If we are able to observe what happens in the solar atmosphere and spot a solar storm or solar eruption as it happens, measure its heat at the source and watch its trajectory, this serves as a forewarning to switch off power grids and satellites redirecting them out of harm's way.

Aditya-L1's Unique Advantage

While other space observatories watching our star, India's spacecraft has an advantage compared to rivals regarding watching the corona.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph is the exact size that lets it effectively simulate lunar coverage, fully covering the Sun's photosphere permitting an uninterrupted view of nearly the entire solar atmosphere 24 hours a day, throughout the year, including during eclipses and occultations," notes the researcher.

In other words, the coronagraph functions as a synthetic eclipse, blocking the Sun's bright surface allowing scientists constantly study its faint outer corona – a feat natural eclipses does only during eclipses.

Additionally, it's unique that can study eruptions in visible light, letting it determine eruption heat and heat energy – crucial data indicating how strong a CME would be if it headed toward Earth.

Readiness for Maximum Activity

In preparation for the upcoming solar maximum, researchers collaborated to study the data obtained from a major CMEs recorded by the mission has recorded until now.

It originated in September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. Its mass totaled billions of tons – the iceberg that struck the ship was 1.5 million tonnes.

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

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

The space rock that eliminated the dinosaurs on Earth carried enormous energy and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, there may be eruptions with energy content equal to even more than that.

"I consider the CME we evaluated happened during periods of typical solar activity. Now this sets the standard that we'll be using to evaluate what is in store when the maximum activity cycle arrives," he states.

"The insights gained will help us developing protective measures to be adopted safeguarding satellites in near space. They will also help us gain deeper knowledge of our space environment," he concludes.