The 2040's

Timeline
2040 - India's economy is nearing that of China and the US. The first "Energy Island" is launched on the Eastern coast of the US. Deep-sea mining operations are everywhere.

Possible manned mission by NASA to Jupiter's moon, Callisto.

2045

One prediction (by Ray Kurzweil) places the emergence of the technological singularity in 2045. On August 12, a total solar eclipse will take place in the United States, producing a path from California to Florida. Some parts of Florida are predicted to experience totality for six minutes, the longest in US history.

2047

Hong Kong's special administrative status ends. (According to Chapter I, Article 5 of Hong Kong's Basic Law, "The socialist system and policies shall not be practised in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, and the previous capitalist system and way of life shall remain unchanged for 50 years." That 50 years comes to an end in 2047.)