Eris Libra-

2007 - US + Britain go to War with Russia and China. Nukes are used, but no majo
r exchanges, mostly tactical, mostly on Eurasian and Asian soil -- mostly. Bush
president for life
2011 - Chunks of space debris clip atmosphere and hit, India, Bangladesh, and Ja
ksonville, FL., US (I hate that place). This forces space preparedness to forefr
ont as scientists discover a stream of larger debris in Earth's orbital path for
next decade.
2015 - Moon Base Alpha developed and hastily manned. Same year, Mars Base begun,
but fails for un(disclosed)known reason.
2016 - South American War: A cartel-syndicate in cohoots with various government
s (and remnants of PRC military elements) fight costly war with IAS (Imperial Am
erican States), and nuclear warfare in region not only creates its own eco-reper
cussions, but also cause the detonation of at least one dormant volcano.
2018 - First bits of super-debris destroyed before striking Earth, but damage lu
nar facility killing tens of thousands and instituting terribly repressive livin
g conditions upon survivors.
2023 - Asteroid manipulation robot craft have averted most of the other expected
strikes, and now mining/harvesting becomes profitable. Hydrogen fuel is standar
d in most eco-friendly zones, but the rest of the world has to turn to nuclear f
uel solutions as the minor FF reserves are sucked dry. The IAS still holds its o
wn FF reserves, but Russia's last hurrah was nuking its Siberian reserves to pre
vent it from being seized.
2028 - Mars colonisation continues to fail, with terrible and bloody madness str
iking all would-be colonists, although some who are removed from the planet to o
rbital stations seem to recover and speak of 'creatures' affecting the minds of
the population.
2031 - AI breakthrough results in an AI war that very quickly threatens all of t
he developed worlds. The solution comes late, and many colonies are lost or at
least cut off from Earth control.
2035 - Earth's ecological status is terrible. From desication and flooding to w
ild storms and animal incursions, no one who can escape to somewhere else remain
s on the dying planet, unless they're nostalgic or insane.
2038-46 - Colonial Wars: Terrible
2048 - Bioengeneering renders hard-tech AI useless and computers are banned thro
ughout Imperial Space. Colonies have made individual breakthroughs, mainly stri
king bargains with AI entities and now have robotic citizens alongside their hum
an ones.
2054 - Only the Belt and Periphery are capable of acting as safehavens for indep
endent colonies & nations. Earth is all but forgotten.
2063 - Biotech Plague Ravages Imperial Space. Easily 80% of IS citizens and sla
ves are killed by their own implants and genetic tampering.
2076 - Tricentenial celebrations of NEF (New Earth Federation) are largely unnot
iced by the silent solar system.
Earth is virtually unrecognisable: from ethnicities, to geography, to lifeforms,
 to languages. NEF scouts find it so radically different that it essentially mu
st be re-explored.
AIREs (Aritfical Inteligence Robotic Entities) lead the exploration, but human a
nd the few Bioform scouts must do the work of establishing new ties with their c
ousins.