The Reason 2026 Will Be a Year Like No Other for India's Sun Mission

Regarding Aditya-L1, the year 2026 will be like no other.

This marks the initial occasion the spacecraft – that entered in orbit last year – can watch our star when it reaches its maximum activity cycle.

According to research, this occurs approximately once every 11 years when the Sun's magnetic poles flip – the Earth equivalent could be the North and South poles changing places.

It's a time marked by intense activity. It sees our star changing from peaceful to violent and features a huge increase in the number of solar eruptions and massive solar flares – massive bubbles of fire that erupt of the Sun's outermost layer.

Composed of ionized particles, a coronal mass ejection can weigh of billions of tons and can attain velocities of up to 3,000km each second. It can head out in any direction, even toward the Earth. At top speed, it would take a CME 15 hours to traverse the vast distance between Earth and the Sun.

"During typical or quiet periods, our star emits two to three CMEs daily," explains 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 of India's maiden solar mission. Firstly, because the ejections provide an opportunity to learn about the star at the centre of our solar system, and two, since events that take place on the solar surface threaten systems on Earth and in space.

Effects on Earth and Space Infrastructure

CMEs rarely pose immediate danger to people, yet they impact life on Earth by causing magnetic disturbances affecting conditions in near space, where about thousands of spacecraft, comprising Indian satellites, are stationed.

"The most beautiful manifestations from solar eruptions are auroras, which are a clear example that charged particles from our star are travelling toward our planet," the scientist explains.

"But they can also cause electronic systems on a satellite malfunction, disable power grids and disrupt weather and communication satellites."

Past Solar Incidents

• The strongest solar event ever recorded was the Carrington Event which knocked out communication systems worldwide
• In 1989, a part of Canadian electrical network was knocked out, affecting millions without power for hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disturbed flight operations, leading to chaos in Sweden and various European airports
• In February 2022, a CME caused 38 commercial satellites being lost

With capability 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 path, it can work as advanced warning to switch off power grids and spacecraft redirecting them to safety.

Aditya-L1's Special Capability

While other solar missions observing our star, India's spacecraft has an advantage compared to rivals when it comes to watching the corona.

"The instrument is the exact size that lets it effectively simulate lunar coverage, fully covering the solar disk and allowing it continuous observation of almost all solar atmosphere around the clock, 365 days a year, including during eclipses and occultations," says the expert.

Essentially, this instrument acts like a synthetic eclipse, obscuring the Sun's bright surface to let researchers constantly study its faint outer corona – a feat natural eclipses does only during eclipses.

Moreover, this is the only mission that can study eruptions using optical wavelengths, letting it measure eruption heat and thermal output – key clues indicating how strong a CME would be when traveling our direction.

Preparation for Maximum Activity

To prepare for next year's peak solar activity period, researchers worked together analyzing the data gathered from a major solar eruption that Aditya-L1 has observed recently.

This event began in September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. The eruption's weight totaled billions of tons – the iceberg that struck the ship was 1.5 million tonnes.

Initially, its temperature was 1.8 million degrees Celsius with energy equivalent comparable to millions of tons of explosives – relative to the atomic bombs used in Japan were 15 kilotons in scale respectively.

Even though the numbers seem massive, the scientist classifies it as a moderate event.

The asteroid that eliminated prehistoric life on Earth carried enormous energy and during the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see eruptions carrying power equal to greater levels.

"In my view the CME we evaluated happened when the Sun of typical solar activity. Now this sets the benchmark for future comparison assessing what is in store during solar maximum occurs," he says.

"The insights from this will help us work out protective measures to implement to protect spacecraft in near space. They will also help achieving deeper knowledge of our space environment," he concludes.