by AMY WILLS
PHOTO/NASA
A Nasa spacecraft is poised to cross the frontier of the solar system to become the first man-made object to reach the void that separates us from the milky way.
Voyager 1 was launched in 1977 alongside a secondary vessel – Voyager 2 – which also remains in flight around one billion miles behind its sister ship.
The technology on board the vessels can only store 8,000 words at a time and transmits information back to Earth at 160 bits a second, with a device the strength of a fridge light bulb. Signals take 17 hours to be intercepted by a network of radio dishes in America, Australia and Spain, known as the Deep Space Network.
Scientists hope the ship will continue to transmit information until 2025.
The Telegraph for more & NASA to watch
(Thanks to Robin Khundkar)