NASA’s Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) is on an unmanned robotic mission to orbit the moon to gather detailed information about the lunar atmosphere, conditions near the surface, and environmental influences on lunar dust. The purpose of the mission is to catalogue the composition, density, and variability of the lunar atmosphere.
7 September 2013
RIA-Novosti
Russian Proton-M carrier rocket
On Thursday, a spokesman for the Federal Space Agency Roskosmos said it’s preparing a Proton-M carrier rocket for the launch of the US Sirius FM-6 telecom satellite, saying, “The launch is tentatively scheduled for February 2012”. The assembly of the upper stage of the rocket and the testing of a Briz-M booster is underway at the Baikonur Space Centre in Kazakhstan. The Sirius FM-6 mission was originally expected in the fourth quarter of 2010, then, there was a postponement to late December 2011, and, then, further delays to 24 and 29 January 2012. The Sirius FM-6, built by Space Systems/Loral (SS/L) for Sirius Satellite Radio, is a new high-power satellite designed to operate in a highly inclined elliptical orbit (HIEO). This satellite will be the sixth SS/L-built spacecraft in the Sirius fleet.
26 January 2012
RIA-Novosti
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20120126/170964422.html
Editor’s Note:
Even American satellites are going up on Russian boosters. Newt’s gonna have a lunar base in seven years? In a pig’s arse…
Voices from Russia 
Washington Boobs Mistook Combine Harvesters for “Russian Invasion”
Tags: American satellites, civil unrest, Novorossiya, political commentary, politics, Russia, Russian, satellite imagery, satellites, Ukraine, Ukrainian Civil War, war and conflict
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OpEdNews journalist Dave Lindorf questioned satellite imagery of “military equipment” that the USA called proof that Russian troops were in the Ukraine. He believes that they look like combine harvesters, rather than guns left in the middle of an open field. The American administration’s anti-Russian propaganda is trying to use these grainy black-and-white photographs as proof that Russian troops invaded the Ukraine. Lindorf noted that placing mobile artillery as allegedly shown in these pictures is illogical. It shows machinery lined up in the middle of a grain field, with trunks turned towards the Ukraine. They’re not under treecover, which makes them an easy target for attacks from the air or from counterbattery fire. In addition, one doesn’t see ammunition piled near the equipment, usually seen in pictures of military units, for example, as in the Israel Defence Forces deployed in the Gaza Strip. One reader from Texas, “a farm state”, suggested a possible logical explanation. They more resemble combines used to harvest crops. These harvesters have long, straight, gun-like pipes through which the harvested grain pours into trucks for transport. Most often, one sees them aligned in such a chain, which means that they’re not artillery. Lindorf said that you couldn’t say with absolute certainty that these pictures show Russian artillery. However, given the habit of Washington to lie about weapons of mass destruction and mobile plants to produce chemical weapons, it doesn’t give one confidence that there’s a “grain of truth” in the American statements.
11 September 2014
RT
http://russian.rt.com/article/49416