I came to this thread by googling "РфбА" and just minutes later came across this in game, the entire text under the letters.

It's big, so here's a link.

I think the second word is federation and the last one is pretty much "aeronautical."

Transliterated it's "rohskoye federal[?]noye byooroh aeronavteekee" (I read a book on Russian in junior high and I don't remember the words but I remember most of the letters). Running that through Google's translator says it is what it looks like, Russian Federal Bureau of Aeronautics. Google's search doesn't seem to recognize that as existing, per se, but the first result for it is the page on the Russian Federal Space Agency. Basically, it's what I thought it was, and something you'd expect. The fact it's not marked with ФКА (FKA) or РКА (RKA), the abbreviations for the actual present-day Russian space agency, means either something changed, whether it was a major shift or just a name change, or it's an alternate universe where the Russians called their space agency something else, which could hint at other subtle differences, but that's a bit of a stretch.
Oh, and спасибо, thank you for sharing this.

It's big, so here's a link.

I think the second word is federation and the last one is pretty much "aeronautical."

The thing about РФБА I actually saw in this picture. That spot doesn't seem to show up in any of the videos and I can't make it out in the other places it shows up. In that picture I'm almost certain it's "Russian Federal [something something]".

Looks like that passageway is from the part of the demo right after the Ghost turns on the lights and they confront the Fallen:

Just can't see the symbol there because he's reloading in front of it!

The thing about РФБА I actually saw in this picture. That spot doesn't seem to show up in any of the videos and I can't make it out in the other places it shows up. In that picture I'm almost certain it's "Russian Federal [something something]".

Nice catch. I'll download the E3 demo vid on highest resolution and try to make it out. And yes, it's definitely 'Russian Federal' something, but mistranslate, I think.

Soon after viewing the traffic jam of doom we’re show this:

Note the hole in the top of the skull. For the longest time, despite concept art of destroyed Human tanks and aircraft carriers, I stubbornly believed that whatever hit Earth mainly did so from orbit. That way The Traveler could do its thing and drive them away. But that hole in the top of the Russian’s head leads me to believe otherwise. I now think whatever attacked Earth made landfall and went on a huge, up close and personal killing spree. Maybe it was an army, or maybe it was one single, powerful being, but whatever it was took the time to shoot fleeing civilians in the head. This wasn't some environmental disaster or uncaring whale probe. This attack was personal.

If that was what killed him (her?), would it still look like that (black with a pretty well-defined hole) after enough time for there to only be a skeleton left?

Each of those colony ships lining the wall has got to be multiple times the size of our biggest modern day rockets. Those shuttles could very well be significantly bigger than the space shuttles.

It's too bad Stephen Loftus isn't into Destiny, he'd be able to tell us for sure.

Inside the wall of the POGA(?) (My Russian is so bad I can’t even write a word in the language) space port we see a few things. One is their neat logo:

And the other is the repeated lettering of KOH 22, the name of that section of the wall perhaps?

I searched for all the Cyrillic terms I could make out... but I forgot to search for this one as it was (РФБА) until now...

It feels big and epic, without it descending to that OMG LENS FLARE look that Mass Effect, Halo 4, and the two newest Star Trek movies have. There’s certainly lens flares there, but they feel like their own thing that’s part of the world, not something added in… if that makes any sense.

just an aside here to say I appreciate this

Overhead there seems to be a red tarp hanging or suspended above Rixis’ area. Are the Fallen infesting our old structures? If so why? Are they using them as bases, or are they maybe using them to hide from something more dangerous?

My guess is they're scavenging and also turning it into some kind of base.

The sense I get from Destiny, is that this time around Bungie has a universe that they really believe in, not one that they put together after the first game turns out of be a success.

I don't think it's fair to say Bungie didn't believe in the Halo universe, and even if they didn't know if it would be successful, they'd done sequels before where it presumably would've been even less of a certainty they'd be successful, so I'd think they knew what they were doing with that on some level.
I like your analysis though.

(Have I mentioned you people shouldn't come for the World Cup next year?)

I'm wondering if the hole in the skull is just due to birds, regular decomposition, or that the vehicle crashed and the poor sod wasn't wearing a seatbelt.

I think we can rule out all three actually. If it were birds then it must have been some pretty darn aggressive birds to peck a hole in the guy's head and to cause that crack running down the side of his skull..I'm no doctor, and I did not stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night, but I'm thinking a crack like that need to be made by something more forceful than a bird. Likewise, normal decomposition won't cut it. As for the guy crashing hard enough to smash his head... I don't think so. He's stuck in traffic stretching for at least a couple of miles assuming the wall was right over the most distant hill. No way he was going fast enough to cause serious, head fracturing injury.

I'm thinking either a nuclear type event that would knock the guy around, but then wouldn't the cars be more scattered and off the roadway, or a more up close and personal killing.

Note the hole in the top of the skull. For the longest time, despite concept art of destroyed Human tanks and aircraft carriers, I stubbornly believed that whatever hit Earth mainly did so from orbit. That way The Traveler could do its thing and drive them away. But that hole in the top of the Russian’s head leads me to believe otherwise. I now think whatever attacked Earth made landfall and went on a huge, up close and personal killing spree. Maybe it was an army, or maybe it was one single, powerful being, but whatever it was took the time to shoot fleeing civilians in the head. This wasn't some environmental disaster or uncaring whale probe. This attack was personal.

This actually says a lot.

Look at the picture. How much time do you think it would take to decompose a body, as well as the seat itself, and have grass start growing through the car?

This is a LONG time since The Fall, or whatever it's called.

I'm wondering if the hole in the skull is just due to birds, regular decomposition, or that the vehicle crashed and the poor sod wasn't wearing a seatbelt.

Gave this a read while waiting for the video to download (thank you DBO media library!). Made me appreciate it that much more and clued me in to things I probably would have missed!

Thanks. :)

Also be sure to check the Destiny Updates analysis too. Lots of good stuff there!

I think so. Bungie has said that the various houses of Fallen don't like each other. There's got to be alliance opportunities there. We don't really even know anything about the Vex or Hive. And I'm still heavily betting on a Bungie Twist™ close to the size of The Arbiter in Halo 2. I mean, a whole new universe and we think Bungie has laid it all out for us? Not a chance! :)

I had missed that bit on the Fallen, gonna just file that away for reference. It would be an interesting alliance considering we're the only two races that appear to be holed up on Earth. There's at least, quite literally, some common ground.

And I agree, there's no way that we're going to be handed this universe without also being given a hearty dose of the unexpected! A lot of answers probably lie with that as-yet-to-be-revealed race with the creepy pyramid ships (unless I missed that too, of course lol).