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

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

This marks the initial occasion the observatory – which was placed into space last year – can observe the Sun when it reaches the peak of its solar cycle.

As per scientific data, it comes roughly once every 11 years when the Sun's polarity reverses – the Earth equivalent could be the North and South poles changing places.

This period marked by intense activity. It sees our star transition from peaceful to violent and features a huge increase in the frequency of solar storms and massive solar flares – massive bubbles of fire that erupt of the Sun's outermost layer.

Composed of ionized particles, a coronal mass ejection may have a mass up to a trillion kilograms and reach velocities of up to 3,000km per second. It can head out in any direction, even toward our planet. At maximum velocity, it would take an ejection 15 hours to traverse the vast distance Earth-Sun distance.

"During typical or quiet periods, the Sun emits two to three CMEs a day," says a leading scientist. "In 2026, it's anticipated them to be over ten each day."

Studying CMEs is one of the key research goals for the Indian maiden solar mission. Firstly, as these eruptions provide an opportunity to learn about the Sun in the center of our solar system, and secondly, because activities that take place on the solar surface threaten systems on our planet and in orbit.

Effects on Earth and Space Infrastructure

Coronal mass ejections seldom present a direct threat to human life, but they do affect life on Earth through generating geomagnetic storms that impact conditions in Earth's vicinity, where about 11,000 satellites, including Indian satellites, orbit.

"The most spectacular manifestations of a CME include northern lights, being direct evidence that charged particles from Sun are travelling to Earth," the scientist clarifies.

"But they can also cause electronic systems aboard spacecraft fail, disable electrical networks and disrupt weather and communication satellites."

Historical Solar Incidents

• The strongest solar storm in history occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm which knocked out telegraph lines across the globe
• In 1989, sections of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, leaving six million people without power for nine hours
• During late 2015, solar activity disturbed air traffic control, causing disruption across Scandinavia and some other European air hubs
• In February 2022, a CME had led to dozens of spacecraft being lost

With capability to see events on the Sun's corona and spot solar activity or a coronal mass ejection in real time, measure its heat at the source and track its trajectory, this serves as advanced warning to switch off power grids and satellites and move them out of harm's way.

Aditya-L1's Unique Advantage

While other solar missions observing the Sun, India's spacecraft holds an edge compared to rivals when it comes to studying the solar atmosphere.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph has perfect dimensions enabling it to nearly mimic lunar coverage, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere and allowing it continuous observation of nearly the entire of the corona 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, even during solar events," notes the expert.

In other words, the coronagraph acts like an artificial Moon, obscuring the Sun's bright surface allowing researchers continuously observe its faint outer corona – something natural eclipses provide only during eclipses.

Moreover, this is the only mission that can study eruptions in visible light, enabling it to measure eruption heat and heat energy – key clues indicating how strong a CME would be if it headed toward Earth.

Preparation for Maximum Activity

To prepare for the upcoming peak solar activity period, scientists worked together to study information gathered from one of the largest solar eruption that Aditya-L1 has observed recently.

It originated on 13 September 2024 during early hours. The eruption's weight was 270 million tonnes – for comparison that struck the ship weighed much less.

Initially, the heat reached extreme levels and the energy content comparable to 2.2 million megatons of TNT – relative to nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller in scale respectively.

Although the numbers seem incredibly large, the scientist classifies it as a "medium-sized" one.

The asteroid which wiped out prehistoric life on Earth carried enormous energy and during the Sun's maximum activity cycle, there may be CMEs carrying power equal to even more than that.

"In my view the CME we analyzed happened when the Sun was in the normal activity phase. This establishes the benchmark that we'll be using assessing what is in store when the maximum activity cycle occurs," he says.

"The insights gained will help us developing the countermeasures to implement safeguarding spacecraft in near space. They will also help us gain deeper knowledge of our space environment," he concludes.