Year of the Rabbitt

2011 (MMXI) is a common year starting on Saturday.

In the Gregorian calendar, it is the 2011th year of the Common Era or the Anno Domini designation; the 11th year of the 3rd millennium and of the 21st century; and the 2nd of the 2010s decade.

The United Nations has designated 2011 the International Year of Forests and International Year of Chemistry.

March 18 – NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft is scheduled to arrive in orbit around Mercury.

April 1 – The Space Shuttle will undertake its final mission before retirement.

In May, Jupiter, Venus, Mercury, and Mars all visible within a roughly 6° area of sky.
In July the Dawn spacecraft is scheduled to arrive at the minor planet 4 Vesta during July. The exact date remains uncertain. The International Olympic Committee will decide the host city of the 2018 Winter Olympics.

September 9 – October 23 – New Zealand will host the 2011 Rugby World Cup.

Exact dates unknown but in 2011 California will open the world's largest solar power plant. The Nord Stream natural gas pipeline from Russia to Germany will be completed. Blue Waters, a petascale supercomputer being designed and built as a joint effort between the National Center for Supercomputing Applications, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and IBM is expected to be completed in this year. A new definition of the kilogram, based on universal constants, is likely to be announced at the 24th General Conference on Weights and Measures.