The Reason 2026 Will Be an Unprecedented Year for the Indian Sun Mission

Regarding India's first solar observatory, the year 2026 will be like no other.

This marks the initial occasion the observatory – which was placed in orbit recently – can observe the Sun when it reaches the peak of its solar cycle.

According to scientific data, this occurs approximately once every 11 years as 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 changing from calm to stormy and is marked by a huge increase in the frequency of solar eruptions and massive solar flares – enormous clouds of fire that blow out from the solar corona.

Composed of ionized particles, a coronal mass ejection may have a mass of billions of tons and can attain a speed exceeding 2,000 miles each second. It can travel toward various directions, including towards the Earth. At maximum velocity, it would take an ejection about half a day to traverse the 150 million km Earth-Sun distance.

"During typical or quiet periods, the Sun launches a few solar eruptions daily," explains an astrophysics expert. "In 2026, we expect there will be 10 or more daily."

Studying coronal mass ejections is one of the key research goals for the Indian maiden solar mission. Firstly, as these eruptions provide an opportunity to learn about the star at the centre of our planetary system, and two, because activities occurring on the solar surface endanger infrastructure on Earth and in orbit.

Impacts on Earth and Orbital Systems

Coronal mass ejections seldom present immediate danger to human life, but they do affect our planet by causing magnetic disturbances affecting conditions in Earth's vicinity, where about 11,000 satellites, comprising Indian satellites, orbit.

"The most spectacular manifestations of a CME include northern lights, which are a clear example that solar particles from our star journey to Earth," the scientist explains.

"However, they may make all the electronics aboard spacecraft malfunction, disable electrical networks and disrupt weather and communication satellites."

Historical Solar Incidents

• The most powerful solar storm in history was the Carrington Event which knocked out communication systems across the globe
• During 1989, a part of Quebec's power grid was knocked out, affecting millions in darkness for hours
• During late 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 being lost

If we are able to see what happens on the Sun's corona and spot a solar storm or a coronal mass ejection in real time, record its temperature at origin and track its path, it can work as advanced warning to switch off power grids and satellites redirecting them out of harm's way.

The Mission's Special Capability

There are other solar missions watching our star, India's spacecraft holds an edge over others when it comes to watching the corona.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph is the exact size that lets it effectively simulate the Moon, completely blocking the Sun's photosphere permitting continuous observation 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 a synthetic eclipse, obscuring the solar glare to let scientists constantly study 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 measure a CME's temperature and thermal output – crucial data that show how strong of an eruption if it headed toward Earth.

Preparation for Maximum Activity

To prepare for next year's peak solar activity period, scientists collaborated analyzing information obtained from a major CMEs recorded by the mission has recorded until now.

This event began in September 2024 during early hours. Its mass was 270 million tonnes – for comparison that struck the ship weighed much less.

Initially, the heat was 1.8 million degrees Celsius with energy equivalent was equivalent to 2.2 million megatons of explosives – in comparison nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were 15 kilotons in scale each.

Even though these figures seem massive, the scientist describes it as a "medium-sized" one.

The space rock which wiped out prehistoric life on our planet carried enormous energy and when solar peak occurs, we could see CMEs with energy content matching even more than that.

"I consider this eruption we evaluated happened when the Sun of typical solar activity. Now this sets the benchmark for future comparison assessing what to expect during solar maximum occurs," he says.

"The insights gained will assist in work out protective measures to be adopted to protect spacecraft in orbit. They will also help achieving a better understanding of near-Earth space," he concludes.