An innovative solution helps to put the venerable Voyager 1 spacecraft past a key milestone.

Flashback to 1977. Jimmy Carter was U.S. president, Star Wars was a box office hit, and the two Voyager spacecraft departed on an historic Grand Tour of the solar system. Now, teams at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory are working to keep the missions active, as they push the boundaries of interstellar space beyond the solar system.

NASA recently announced that after a brief bit of drama and loss of communications with Voyager 1, a fix dubbed the ‘Big Bang’ was successful in resuscitating the spacecraft. The Big Bang swap alternated three units (two primary heaters and an old 8-track digital tape recorder) with three low power secondary options. The brief loss of communications occurred on October 20th, and lasted for 48 hours.