Why the Year 2026 Will Be an Unprecedented Year for the Indian Sun Mission

For India's first solar observatory, 2026 is expected to be like no other.

This marks the initial occasion the spacecraft – that entered in orbit last year – will be able to observe our star when it reaches its maximum activity cycle.

According to scientific data, it comes roughly once every 11 years when the Sun's magnetic poles flip – the Earth equivalent would be the planet's poles changing places.

It's a time of great turbulence. It involves our star changing from peaceful to violent and is marked by a significant rise in the number of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – enormous clouds of plasma that blow out of the Sun's outermost layer.

Composed of ionized particles, a coronal mass ejection can weigh of billions of tons and reach a speed of up to 3,000km each second. It can head out in any direction, including towards the Earth. At top speed, the journey takes an ejection 15 hours to cover the vast distance between Earth and the Sun.

"In the normal or low-activity times, our star launches two to three CMEs daily," explains an astrophysics expert. "In 2026, we expect them to be over ten daily."

Studying coronal mass ejections ranks among the most important research goals of India's first solar observatory. Firstly, as these eruptions provide an opportunity to study the star at the centre of our solar system, and secondly, because activities occurring on the solar surface threaten systems on Earth and in orbit.

Effects on Earth and Orbital Systems

CMEs rarely pose a direct threat to human life, but they do affect life on Earth through generating magnetic disturbances affecting the weather in near space, where nearly 11,000 satellites, including Indian satellites, orbit.

"The most spectacular displays from solar eruptions include northern lights, being a clear example that solar particles from our star journey to Earth," the expert explains.

"But they can also cause electronic systems aboard spacecraft fail, knock down power grids and affect weather and communication satellites."

Past Solar Incidents

• The strongest solar event ever recorded occurred during the Carrington Event which knocked out telegraph lines across the globe
• During 1989, sections of Canadian electrical network failed, leaving millions in darkness for nine hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disrupted air traffic control, causing chaos in Sweden and some other European airports
• Recently in 2022, an ejection had led to 38 commercial satellites being lost

If we are able to see what happens on the Sun's corona and detect solar activity or solar eruption in real time, record its temperature at origin and watch its path, it can work as a forewarning to switch off power grids and spacecraft redirecting them to safety.

Aditya-L1's Special Capability

There are other space observatories observing the Sun, India's spacecraft has an advantage compared to rivals regarding watching the corona.

"The instrument has perfect dimensions that lets it nearly mimic the Moon, completely blocking the solar disk and allowing it an uninterrupted view of almost all of the corona around the clock, 365 days a year, including during solar events," says the researcher.

In other words, the coronagraph functions as an artificial Moon, blocking the solar glare to let scientists continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – a feat natural eclipses provide only during eclipses.

Additionally, this is the only mission capable of examining solar events using optical wavelengths, enabling it to determine eruption heat and heat energy – crucial data indicating the intensity a CME would be if it headed toward Earth.

Preparation for Peak Period

In preparation for the upcoming solar maximum, scientists collaborated to study information gathered from one of the largest CMEs recorded by the mission has observed recently.

This event began in September 2024 at 00:30 GMT. The eruption's weight totaled billions of tons – the iceberg that sank Titanic weighed much less.

Initially, its temperature reached extreme levels with energy equivalent comparable to millions of tons of explosives – in comparison nuclear weapons used in Japan were 15 kilotons and 21 kilotons respectively.

Even though the numbers seem massive, the expert describes it as a "medium-sized" one.

The asteroid that eliminated the dinosaurs on our planet carried enormous energy and when solar peak occurs, we could see CMEs with energy content equal to greater levels.

"In my view the CME we analyzed happened when the Sun of typical solar activity. This establishes the standard that we'll be using assessing what is in store during solar maximum occurs," he says.

"The insights from this will assist in developing protective measures to be adopted to protect spacecraft in orbit. Additionally, they'll aid us gain deeper knowledge of our space environment," he concludes.