Why 2026 Is Set to Be a Year Like No Other for the Indian Sun Mission

Regarding India's first solar observatory, 2026 will be truly unique.

This marks the initial occasion the observatory – that entered in orbit last year – will be able to watch our star during its maximum activity cycle.

As per scientific data, this occurs approximately once every 11 years as the Sun's magnetic poles flip – the Earth equivalent could be the planet's poles swapping positions.

It's a time marked by intense activity. It sees our star transition from calm to stormy and is marked by a significant rise in the number of solar storms and massive solar flares – massive bubbles of plasma that erupt of the Sun's outermost layer.

Made up of charged particles, a coronal mass ejection may have a mass of billions of tons and reach a speed exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can head out toward various directions, even toward our planet. At maximum velocity, the journey takes a CME 15 hours to traverse the 150 million km Earth-Sun distance.

"During typical or quiet periods, our star launches two to three CMEs daily," explains an astrophysics expert. "Next year, it's anticipated there will be over ten each day."

Researching coronal mass ejections is one of the key research goals of India's maiden solar mission. One, because the ejections provide an opportunity to learn about the Sun at the centre of our planetary system, and secondly, because activities occurring on the solar surface threaten infrastructure on Earth and in space.

Impacts on Our Planet and Orbital Systems

CMEs seldom present immediate danger to people, but they do affect life on Earth through generating magnetic disturbances affecting conditions in near space, where about thousands of spacecraft, comprising Indian satellites, are stationed.

"The most spectacular displays of a CME include northern lights, being a clear example that solar particles from Sun journey toward our planet," the scientist clarifies.

"But they can also cause electronic systems aboard spacecraft malfunction, disable power grids and disrupt weather and communication satellites."

Past Solar Events

• The most powerful solar event in history occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out communication systems worldwide
• In 1989, a part of Canadian electrical network was knocked out, affecting six million people without power for hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disrupted flight operations, causing disruption across Scandinavia and some other European airports
• In February 2022, a CME had led to 38 commercial satellites failing

If we are able to observe what happens in the solar atmosphere and spot solar activity or a coronal mass ejection in real time, record its temperature at the source and track its path, this serves as advanced warning to shut down power grids and spacecraft redirecting them out of harm's way.

The Mission's Unique Advantage

There are other solar missions observing the Sun, India's spacecraft has an advantage over others when it comes to watching the corona.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph is the exact size enabling it to effectively simulate lunar coverage, completely blocking the solar disk and allowing it an uninterrupted view of almost all of the corona 24 hours a day, throughout the year, including during solar events," notes the expert.

Essentially, the coronagraph functions as a synthetic eclipse, blocking the Sun's bright surface allowing scientists continuously observe the dim solar atmosphere – something natural eclipses does only during specific moments.

Additionally, it's unique capable of examining solar events in visible light, letting it measure a CME's temperature and heat energy – key clues indicating how strong of an eruption if it headed toward Earth.

Readiness for Peak Period

To prepare for next year's peak solar activity period, scientists worked together analyzing the data gathered from one of the largest solar eruption recorded by the mission has recorded until now.

This event began on 13 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 was 1.8 million degrees Celsius with energy equivalent was equivalent to 2.2 million megatons of TNT – in comparison nuclear weapons used in Japan were 15 kilotons and 21 kilotons respectively.

Even though these figures make it sound massive, the scientist classifies it as a "medium-sized" one.

The space rock that eliminated prehistoric life on Earth carried enormous energy and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, there may be CMEs with energy content matching greater levels.

"I consider this eruption we evaluated happened during periods was in the normal activity phase. This establishes the benchmark that we'll be using to evaluate what is in store when the maximum activity cycle occurs," he states.

"The learnings from this will help us work out protective measures to implement safeguarding satellites in orbit. They will also help achieving deeper knowledge of our space environment," he concludes.