It would be safe to say it鈥檚 been a difficult year. From the natural disasters that decimated countless communities to the number of horrific terrorist attacks and mass shootings, many will be glad to put this year behind them.
But in the spirit of optimism, here are nine things everyone can look forward to in 2018. From massive sporting events to the Royals and pioneering scientific advancements, there鈥檚 something that even the most cynical person can get excited about.
1. Royal wedding
On Nov. 27, 2017, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle to the delight of royal watchers everywhere.
Harry鈥檚 communications secretary, Jason Knauf, said the wedding will be held in , although no official date has been set.
The grand event will be held at St. George鈥檚 Chapel, a historic church on the Windsor Castle grounds, and the lavish costs will be covered by the family.
There are still details to iron out before the big day, such as who will be Harry鈥檚 best man, which celebrities will be on the guest list, and who will preside over the nuptials.
"In a happy moment in their lives, it means a great deal to them that so many people throughout the UK, the Commonwealth and around the world are celebrating with them," said Knauf at a .
2. Winter Olympics
Pyeongchang in South Korea will host the 2018 Winter Olympics and Paralympics.
There will be four new events added in 2018, including a new and a , which means there are also an additional eight gold medals up for grabs.
On top of that there are some new teams that might take part in the games: Jamaica is hoping to send their to South Korea and could also be making an appearance.
The multi-sport event is scheduled to take place from Feb. 9 to 25, 2018.
3. Commercial space travel
In February, Elon Musk鈥檚 company that it will fly two private citizens around the moon, marking the first step towards commercial space travel.
The two people have reportedly already paid for the trip and entered into training this year to prepare for the week-long journey.
鈥淭his presents an opportunity for humans to return to deep space for the first time in 45 years and they will travel faster and further into the Solar System than any before them,鈥� said SpaceX in a statement.
The unknown passengers are set to take flight in late 2018 aboard the Dragon spacecraft.
4. FIFA World Cup
If the Winter Olympics weren鈥檛 enough to satiate sports fans, the is set to take place in Russia this coming year.
It鈥檚 the first World Cup to be held in Europe since 2006 and it鈥檚 also the first time Iceland and Panama are participating.
The tournament will take place between June 14 and July 15 and will see 32 national teams compete.
5. Anticipated blockbusters
Cinephiles can get excited for some great movies, which are slated for release next year.
A host of superhero films like 鈥淎quaman,鈥� 鈥淒eadpool 2鈥� and the highly anticipated 鈥淏lack Panther鈥� are coming out in 2018.
The long-awaited 鈥淚ncredibles 2鈥� will be out, as will a sequel to 1987鈥檚 鈥淭he Predator.鈥� The beloved childhood character Mary Poppins will also be returning to big screens for some magic and musical fun.
The next instalment of 鈥淔antastic Beasts and Where to Find Them鈥� and the latest Star Wars franchise film are also going to hit the big screen next year.
6. The 100,000 Genomes Project
The project, which began in 2012 with the aim of sequencing 100,000 whole genomes, is set to wrap up in 2018.
The U.K. government-run initiative used National Health Service patient data combined with genomic data, focusing on rare diseases and cancer.
It is the largest endeavour of it鈥檚 kind and the results, which can be accessed by scientists around the world, will be used to help diagnose patients earlier and create better treatments.
The project has with rare diseases that might have otherwise been missed.
According to the last update, they have sequenced 36,083 genomes.
7. Super-fast travel
The year 2018 could mark the beginning of hyper-speed travel.
A hyperloop could open to the public in 2018. In 2017, Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (HTT) began building a five-mile (eight-kilometre) long track between Los Angeles and San Francisco in a town that doesn鈥檛 technically exist yet, called Quay Valley.
HTT told that it could start taking passengers in 2018.
鈥淎fter over two and a half years of research and development our team has reached another important milestone. This will be the world鈥檚 first passenger-ready Hyperloop system,鈥� said HTT CEO Dirk Ahlborn in a . 鈥淓veryone travelling on California鈥檚 I-5 will be able to see our activities from the freeway.鈥�
Also helping reduce the amount of time it takes to get between places is the Boom Supersonic jet.
expects a prototype of its passenger plane to make its first test flight by the end of 2018. The company boasts 2.6 times the speed of any other airline, making a trip from New York to London three hours and 15 minutes, instead of the standard seven hours. Tickets are priced at US$5,000 per person. That may sound expensive but Concorde flights used to cost three times as much. The first test flight will happen in the U.S.
8. InSight to Mars
A robotic Mars lander manufactured in 2010 will finally be on May 5, 2018 after a two-year delay.
The robot named 鈥淚nSight鈥� will gather data that will help understand and explain the processes that shaped rocky planets of the inner solar system, including Earth, more than four billion years ago.
"Because the interior of Mars has churned much less than Earth's in the past three billion years, Mars likely preserves evidence about rocky planets' infancy better than our home planet does," InSight Principal Investigator Bruce Banerdt of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. said in a .
The robot will listen to what NASA calls 鈥渕arsquakes鈥�. The quakes travel through the various materials that compose a planet at different speeds, which help give scientists an idea of how the planet is built and what it鈥檚 made-up of.
9. Royal baby
In October, Prince William and Catherine Middleton . Royal baby number three is due in April 2018.
William and Kate, both 35, already have two children: Prince George, 4, and Princess Charlotte, 2.
鈥淜ate's third child will attract less attention than her siblings, in particular George who will be the future king, where the wait by the media in front of St. Mary's Hospital, Paddington seemed interminable,鈥� Royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams told CTVNews.ca.
鈥淭here will still be considerable interest though and betting on the likely names will be lively. There have been reports that she might choose to have her baby at Kensington Palace but my bet is that the world will get the pictures it wants on the steps of the Lindo wing as before,鈥� he added.
for potential names, according to British bookkeepers.
