2015
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2015 (MMXV) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, the 2015th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 15th year of the 3rd millennium and the 21st century, and the 6th year of the 2010s decade.
2015 has been designated the International Year of Light and the International Year of Soils by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly.
Predicted and scheduled events
January
- January 1:
- The Eurasian Economic Union will come into effect, creating a political and economic union between Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.
- Lithuania will officially adopt the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and will become the nineteenth Eurozone country.
March
- March 20 – A total solar eclipse will occur, visible in the North Atlantic.
April
- NASA's Dawn spacecraft is expected to arrive at the dwarf planet Ceres.[1]
May
- May 5 – October 31 – Expo 2015 will be held in Milan, Italy.
July
- The ESA and NASA plan to launch the LISA Pathfinder spacecraft, a gravity research probe and technology testbed.
- July 14 – NASA's New Horizons spacecraft is expected to fly by Pluto and Charon and explore the area for five months, until the distance becomes too great. New Horizons will then enter the Kuiper belt and eventually leave the Solar System.[2]
September
- September 10 – If still reigning, Queen Elizabeth II will surpass her great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria as Britain's longest-reigning monarch.[3]
- September 13 – A partial solar eclipse will occur.
December
- December 15 – Mobile phone roaming charges will be abolished within the European Union.[4]
Date unknown
- The United States and South Korea will dissolve the post-Korean War Combined Forces Command.[5]
- Cloud computing may contribute to the creation of two million computerized jobs worldwide by 2015.[6]
In fiction
Literature
- "Runaround" (1941), a science fiction short story by Isaac Asimov, is set in this year.
- The Carbon Diaries: 2015 (2009), a teenage diary series about climate change, is set in this year.
- Part of Alex Scarrow's second TimeRiders book, Day of the Predator (2010), is set at a scientific institute in Texas in this year.
Computer and video games
- Back to the Future II & III NES (1990): Part of the game is set in 2015.
- Star Control (1990): The Small War of 2015 takes place, in which many of humanity's nuclear weapons are used.
- Doom (1993): The Union Aerospace Corporation is founded in 2015.[7]
- Jetfighter 2015 (2005).
- Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation (2007).
- Ninja Blade (2009).
- MAG: Massive Action Game (2010): The war between Valor, Raven and S.V.E.R. starts in 2015.
- Ace Combat: Assault Horizon (2011).
- XCOM: Enemy Unknown (2012): The events of the game begin in March 2015.
Film
- Firebird 2015 AD (1981).[8]
- Back to the Future Part II (1989): Dr. Emmett Brown, Marty McFly and Jennifer Parker time travel to October 21 of this year. Lawyers are abolished, automated clothing is in vogue and people travel in flying cars and on hoverboards.
- Event Horizon (1997): The first permanent colony is said to be established on the Moon in 2015.
- The 6th Day (2000).
- Shank (2010).
- Underworld: Awakening (2012).
Television
- Defenders of the Earth (1986).
- Future GPX Cyber Formula (1991).
- Neon Genesis Evangelion (1995–1996): The main events of the series take place in this year.
- Space: Above and Beyond (1995–1996): The aerospace and defense supplier Aero-Tech is founded.
- FlashForward (2009–2010): At the end of the series finale, "Future Shock", a sign saying "Happy New Year 2015" is visible in a montage.
- Fringe (2008–2013): "The Purge" occurs and the posthuman Observers take control of Earth.
Media franchises
- .hack: A fire occurs at the main CC Corp building in 2015, resulting in a large loss of data and forcing original version of the online game known as The World to be shut down and replaced with The World: R2.
See also
References
- ^ "NASA's Dawn Fills out its Ceres Dance Card". NASA. Retrieved October 28, 2014.
- ^ "New Horizons". NASA. August 24, 2012. Retrieved July 24, 2013.
- ^ "Queen Elizabeth II marks another milestone". BBC. May 12, 2011. Retrieved December 12, 2014.
- ^ Mináriková, Katarína (May 12, 2014). "Roaming charges to drop, end". The Slovak Spectator. Retrieved December 12, 2014.
- ^ Bandow, Doug (December 5, 2011). "Why Doesn't South Korea Defend The United States?". Forbes. Retrieved June 28, 2013.
- ^ Cox, Johnathan (March 6, 2012). "Cloud Computer May Bring Millions of Jobs". Amazing News. Retrieved April 4, 2012.
- ^ About. DoomRPG.com. Retrieved June 28, 2013.
- ^ "Firebird 2015 AD (1981)". IMDb. Retrieved July 10, 2013.