Why 2026 Is Set to Be an Unprecedented Year for the Indian Sun Mission

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

This marks the initial occasion the observatory – which was placed into space recently – can observe our star when it reaches its maximum activity cycle.

As per scientific data, this occurs roughly once every 11 years when the Sun's magnetic poles flip – a similar Earth scenario would be the planet's poles swapping positions.

This period of great turbulence. It sees our star changing 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 reach velocities of up to 3,000km each second. It can head out in any direction, even toward our planet. At maximum velocity, the journey takes a CME about half a day to traverse the 150 million km between Earth and the Sun.

"In the normal or low-activity times, the Sun launches two to three CMEs daily," explains an astrophysics expert. "In 2026, it's anticipated them to be over ten daily."

Studying CMEs ranks among the key scientific objectives for the Indian maiden solar mission. One, because the ejections offer a chance to study the Sun in the center of our solar system, and secondly, since events occurring on the solar surface threaten systems on Earth and in space.

Effects on Our Planet and Space Infrastructure

CMEs rarely pose a direct threat to people, but they do affect our planet through generating geomagnetic storms that impact the weather in Earth's vicinity, where nearly thousands of spacecraft, including Indian satellites, orbit.

"The most spectacular displays of a CME include northern lights, being direct evidence that charged particles from our star are travelling toward our planet," the expert explains.

"But they can also cause electronic systems on a satellite malfunction, disable electrical networks and affect weather and communication satellites."

Past Solar Events

• The most powerful solar storm ever recorded occurred during the Carrington Event that disabled communication systems worldwide
• During 1989, a part of Canadian electrical network was knocked out, affecting millions in darkness for hours
• In November 2015, solar storms disturbed flight operations, causing chaos across Scandinavia and various European airports
• In February 2022, a CME had led to dozens of spacecraft failing

With capability to see events on the Sun's corona and detect a solar storm or a coronal mass ejection as it happens, record its temperature at origin and track its trajectory, this serves as advanced warning to shut down power grids and spacecraft redirecting them to safety.

The Mission's Unique Advantage

While other solar missions observing our star, Aditya-L1 holds an edge compared to rivals when it comes to watching the corona.

"The instrument has perfect dimensions enabling it to effectively simulate lunar coverage, completely blocking the solar disk and allowing it an uninterrupted view of almost all solar atmosphere 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, including during solar events," notes the researcher.

In other words, this instrument acts like an artificial Moon, blocking the Sun's bright surface allowing researchers constantly study the dim solar atmosphere – something natural eclipses does only during specific moments.

Additionally, this is the only mission capable of examining solar events using optical wavelengths, letting it measure a CME's temperature and thermal output – key clues that show how strong of an eruption when traveling toward Earth.

Readiness for Peak Period

In preparation for next year's peak solar activity period, researchers worked together to study information obtained from one of the largest CMEs that Aditya-L1 has observed recently.

It originated on 13 September 2024 during early hours. The eruption's weight was 270 million tonnes – the iceberg that sank Titanic weighed much less.

Initially, its temperature was 1.8 million degrees Celsius with energy equivalent was equivalent to millions of tons of explosives – relative to nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller in scale each.

Even though these figures make it sound massive, the expert classifies it as a moderate event.

The asteroid that eliminated the dinosaurs on Earth was 100 million megatons and during solar peak occurs, we could see eruptions carrying power matching even more than that.

"In my view the CME we evaluated happened during periods was in the normal activity phase. This establishes the benchmark for future comparison assessing what to expect when the maximum activity cycle arrives," he says.

"The insights gained will assist in developing protective measures to implement safeguarding spacecraft in orbit. Additionally, they'll aid us gain a better understanding of near-Earth space," he concludes.