India’s space agency ISRO reports that its solar observatory mission Aditya-L1 has yielded new scientific insights into the interactions between intense solar storms and Earth’s magnetic shield. Data gathered by the mission assisted a team of ISRO scientists and research scholars in deciphering the impact of a significant space weather event that affected Earth in October 2024, illuminating how such storms can alter conditions in near-Earth space.
The results, published in The Astrophysical Journal in December 2025, reveal that during severe solar storms, the chaotic region of a solar plasma eruption, referred to as a coronal mass ejection (CME), can significantly compress Earth’s magnetic field, drawing it considerably closer to the planet than usual. This compression temporarily subjected satellites in geostationary orbit to more severe space conditions than they typically encounter.
Aditya-L1’s position, situated near the Sun-Earth Lagrange Point 1 (L1) roughly 1.5 million kilometers from Earth, provides it with a continuous and unobstructed perspective of the Sun and the surrounding space environment, which is ideal for observing solar activity and its repercussions. The observatory is equipped with a range of instruments designed to assess magnetic fields, solar wind particles, and electromagnetic emissions that contribute to space weather.
As stated by ISRO, the findings also demonstrate that during the storm’s chaotic phase, currents in the auroral regions at high latitudes significantly intensified, a process that could warm Earth’s upper atmosphere and boost the escape of atmospheric particles, phenomena that arise only during severe space weather occurrences.
Grasping how solar storms affect Earth’s magnetic field is not merely theoretical. Intense space weather can disrupt satellite functions, interfere with communication and navigation systems like GPS, and, in extreme situations, even impact power grids on the ground. Ongoing monitoring of solar activity, facilitated by missions such as Aditya-L1, is crucial for improving predictions and reducing these effects.
This advancement highlights India’s expanding role in international space weather research and contributes to bridging knowledge gaps regarding how energetic solar events traverse space and influence our planet.
