Author: theLogBook.com

Earl Green is the creator, curator, and head writer of theLogBook.com.

Venus Express arrives

VenusThe European Space Agency’s Venus Express space probe – the first unmanned spacecraft to closely examine the second planet from the sun since the late 1970s – arrives at the planet to undertake a detailed study of the atmosphere, the unusually symmetrical cloud patterns of the planet’s north and south hemispheres, as well as observing the massive, hurricane-like vortices which remain over the poles. Venus Express also looks for the source of traces of sulphur dioxide in the Venusian atmosphere, which could be a sign that of active volcanoes on the surface.

Abrams to be new Trek moviemaker

Star TrekEntertainment industry newspaper Daily Variety reports that J.J. Abrams, creator of Lost and Alias, and director/producer of Paramount’s heavily-promoted Mission: Impossible III, has signed a deal to produce and direct the eleventh Star Trek film, which has suddenly moved from “off the schedule” (following the cooling of the studio’s attitude toward the Trek franchise in the wake of the Star Trek: Enterprise cancellation) to a 2008 release date. Fellow Lost producers Bryan Burk and Damon Lindelof are also signed on as producers of the still-untitled movie, which is said to focus on the first mission for a young James T. Kirk and Spock. Mission: Impossible III (and former Xena/Hercules) writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman are on board as scriptwriters.

Doctor Who: School Reunion

Doctor WhoThe 715th episode of Doctor Who (the 17th since the series’ revival) airs on BBC1. Elisabeth Sladen reprises her classic series role of Sarah Jane Smith, the first non-enemy character from the original series to appear in the current series. John Leeson guest stars as the voice of K-9; Anthony Stewart Head (Buffy: The Vampire Slayer) also appears. Read more Hear about it on the Sci-Fi 5 podcast

Amazing Stories: Anthology One (soundtrack)

Amazing StoriesSoundtrack specialty label Intrada releases a 2-CD limited edition set of soundtrack music from the 1980s anthology series Amazing Stories, featuring music by John Williams, Danny Elfman, James Horner, Bruce Broughton, and other composers. This is the first volume of three collections of music from Amazing Stories. Read more

GOES-13 goes up

GOES-13NOAA’s GOES-13 Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite is launched from Cape Canaveral into geosynchronous orbit to monitor weather patterns over the United States. It will be held in reserve until 2010, when it will be moved to the GOES-EAST position to replace GOES-12, which is suffering chronic attitude control thruster glitches. GOES-13 is yet another evolutionary step up in the GOES satellite hardware, but it will suffer its own share of hardware issues, including a series of inexplicable faults which will cause brief losses of weather coverage, and a later fault which disables infrared imaging capability. Some of these hardware failures will be attributed to micrometeoroid collisions.