Srinagar, Feb 05: Space agencies around the world, including the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), have warned that powerful solar flares unleashed from the Sun could cause radio blackouts and disrupt communications, navigation systems and satellite payloads. ISRO officials confirmed that more than fifty operational Indian satellites are being kept under constant watch due to heightened solar activity, according to a report by NDTV.
Anil Kumar, Director of the Indian Space Research Organisation’s Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) said ground stations have already issued alerts to mission control centres, and contingency plans are in place to respond immediately to any anomaly.
He said, as quoted by the NDTV, that “There is a strong possibility of radio blackouts. All ISRO satellites are being monitored very closely,”
“Any communication loss will be attended to immediately.” He added.
Powerful solar storms can fry satellites, disrupt television signals, and affect radars and power grids when they are directed towards the blue planet.
What made the Sun ‘Angry’?
The current solar unrest began with the sudden intensification of a magnetically complex sunspot cluster known as Active Region 14366. Over the past few days, this region erupted repeatedly, producing four extremely strong solar flares, including an X8.1-class flare — the most powerful of 2026 so far.
NASA confirmed that the flares peaked between February 1 and February 2, with the strongest X8.1 eruption occurring on February 1. Space weather monitoring agencies reported that the event was the brightest solar flare since October 2024 and ranks among the top 20 most powerful flares recorded since 1996, when modern satellite monitoring began.
All eruptions were captured by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, which constantly watches the Sun’s surface for explosive events. The Sun undergoes cycles of intense activity every 11 years or so, and this solar storm activity is part of this solar maxima, as it is called.
Impact on Earth end India
Solar flares of this intensity release enormous bursts of electromagnetic radiation that reach Earth at the speed of light. While they do not directly harm humans on the ground, they can severely disturb the ionosphere, the electrically charged layer of Earth’s upper atmosphere.
These disturbances are known to cause high-frequency radio communication blackouts, disruption to navigation signals, increased radiation exposure for satellites, and risks to high-altitude aviation near the poles. These intense storms result in intense Aurora activity.
According to Professor Dibyendu Nandi, a solar astrophysicist at the Centre of Excellence in Space Sciences India (CESSI), Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Kolkata, the Sun’s behaviour was not entirely unexpected.
“The magnetic active region 14366 is hyperactive and supercharged. It has been firing off one solar storm after another this week,” Nandi said.
He added that Indian scientists had anticipated elevated activity and issued alerts earlier in the week.
“We had analysed this region in advance and issued a space-weather alert based on those assessments,” he said.
Why this storm is being watched closely
Despite the extreme flaring, scientists point out that Earth has so far been spared the worst-case scenario, a strong, Earth-directed coronal mass ejection (CME), and a massive cloud of solar plasma capable of triggering geomagnetic storms.
Read: Solar Orbiter Watches Sun’s Most Hyperactive Region For Record 94 Days
“So far, we have not seen a very strong Earth-directed CME. There is a weak one on the way, but we are watching for something bigger,” Nandi said.
Since the active region lies close to the Sun-Earth line, experts warn that the possibility of a stronger hit cannot be ruled out.
India’s Aditya-L1 on the frontline
India’s first dedicated solar observatory, Aditya-L1, is now playing a crucial role in monitoring the unfolding storm. Positioned at the Earth-Sun L1 Lagrange point, about 1.5 million kilometres from Earth, Aditya-L1 offers India a front-row view of solar eruptions before their effects reach our planet.
Data from Aditya-L1 is helping scientists measure solar radiation, magnetic fields, and energetic particles in real time, allowing ISRO to issue earlier warnings and protect critical space infrastructure.
On February 1, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced India will make a large solar telescope. Perhaps the most telling of the announcements is the National Large Solar Telescope; it would cost about Rs 1000 crore and should be ready in the next five years. This unique telescope is to be housed on the shores of the beautiful Pangong Lake at Merak in Ladakh.
India has just demonstrated its growing competence in solar science through the highly successful Aditya-L1 mission, which now observes the Sun from space. The NLST represents the natural next step: sustained, ultra-high-resolution monitoring of the Sun from the ground, complementing space-based data. The new ground-based solar telescope will monitor to better understand when and why the Sun gets angry and sends devastating solar storms towards the Earth.
Planned as a 2-metre class optical and near-infrared telescope, NLST will focus on the origin and dynamics of solar magnetic fields, phenomena that drive solar flares, coronal mass ejections, and space weather. These are no longer abstract academic concerns. Solar activity can disrupt satellites, power grids, and communication networks, making solar physics a matter of national resilience as much as scientific curiosity.
For now, speaking of this current solar storm, Indian scientists say there is no threat of catastrophic damage but caution that the Sun remains volatile. As the active region continues to rotate across the Sun’s face, India and the world remain on high alert for the next angry outburst by our friendly neighbourhood star, which actually nurtures all life on Earth.
