2015

2015 (MMXV) will be a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar.

Predicted events

• February – NASA's Dawn spacecraft is expected to arrive at the dwarf planet Ceres.
• March 20 – Total solar eclipse (visible in the North Atlantic).
• July 1 – Earth, Venus, and Jupiter will be ordered on a single line.
• July 14 – NASA's New Horizons spacecraft is expected to fly by Pluto and Charon at 50,000 kilometers per hour and explore the area for five months until distance becomes too great. New Horizons will then enter the Kuiper belt and eventually leave our Solar System.
• July 17 – Analog television will be switched off in Ukraine.
• September 9 – Queen Elizabeth II will become the longest reigning British monarch.
• September 13 – Partial solar eclipse.
• December 31 – Millennium Development Goals are targeted for achievement.
• December 31 – Microcredit Summit Campaign goals are targeted for achievement.
• December 31 – Analog television will be switched off in the Philippines.

Unknown dates

• Analog television will be switched off in the Russian Federation.^[1]
• The first plasma operation of the fusion reactor ITER is expected.
• Target date for OECD countries to raise aid levels to 0.7% of Gross Domestic Product, as per the Paris Agreement.
• The United States Navy will commission USS Gerald R. Ford, the first ship in a new class of supercarriers.
• The winning nation for the 2022 Winter Olympics will be announced by the IOC.
• Brood XXIII (Lower Mississippi Valley Brood) of the Magicicada will emerge after a 13 year hiatus.
• Cricket World Cup will be played in Australia and New Zealand.
• The Voyager 1 space probe will reach the heliopause.
• NASA Solar probe, will orbit the Sun
• ESA Solar Orbiter (SOLO), will orbit the Sun to perform close observations of the polar regions of the Sun
• NASA New Horizons: Pluto flyby, then will leave the Solar System
• 2015 is the earliest year the European Space Agency might launch the Darwin Mission to search for exoplanets that could possibly harbor life.
• Toronto will host the 2015 Pan American Games.
• New Songdo City, South Korea, a high-tech city of 65,000 will be completed.^[2]
• A Mass-Transit specific bridge (Caruthers Bridge) will open in Portland, Oregon.

Sports

• 2015 Pan American Games, in Toronto, Canada
• 2015 Rugby World Cup, in England.

In fiction

Computer and video games

• Doom: The Union Aerospace Corporation is founded by Thomas Kelliher.^[3]
• Star Control: The Small War of 2015 takes place, a war where many of humanity's nuclear weapons were used, and resolved in the isolations of the weapons. It is called the "small war" because it could have been much worse.
• Mega Man 8 and Mega Man & Bass are set in this year.
  • "Jetfighter 2015" (2005)
• Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation: The first Ace Combat installment for the Xbox 360. The game takes place on the Anean continent in a war between Emmeria and Estovakia.
• Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots: The first Metal Gear Solid installment for the PlayStation 3. The game takes place in the Middle East, South America, Eastern Europe, Alaska, and a submersible Ark, takes place in 2015.

Film

• "Firebird 2015 AD" (1981)
• Dr. Emmett Brown, Marty McFly, and Jennifer Parker travel to October 21 of this year in the film Back to the Future Part II. According to a holographic newscast, the Chicago Cubs win the World Series against a team from Miami. Inventions will also include flying cars, self-fitting clothes and shoes, hoverboards (devices similar to skateboards), television goggles, hydrating pizzas, and more. According to the film, 2015 is also the year Jaws 19 premieres.
• Event Horizon: The first permanent colony will be established on the Moon.
• The 6th Day (2000)

Television

Set in 2015:

• Defenders of the Earth (1986):
• Future GPX Cyber Formula (1991): Hayato Kazami becomes the youngest driver ever in Cyber formula with Sugo Grand Prix.
• Neon Genesis Evangelion (1995–1996): The main events of the series take place in this year.
• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine ("Past Tense," 1995): By 2015, London has its own Major League Baseball team, the London Kings.
• Space: Above and Beyond (1995–1996): Aerospace and defense supplier Aero-Tech is founded.
• 3rd Rock from the Sun: According to Dick Solomon in the episode "Angry Dick", a giant meteor is destined to collide with Earth. When he says this in his physics class and all of his students turn towards him in shock, he adds, "which obviously doesn't exist because I'm kidding!"

Media franchises

• .hack: A fire occurs at the main CC Corp building, resulting in a large loss of data forcing The World to shut down. By splicing in data from what would have been another game, CC Corp is able to rebuild the game system, thus creating The World:R2.

Other fictions

• John Titor, a claimed time traveler from year 2036, said that World War III would begin during 2015 on his world line.

References