2009 was a pretty big year in terms of new technology and advancements. We’ve seen lots of new green technologies come out, Ares 1-X launched, and NASA has even found water on the moon! Not to mention we now have Windows 7, the Android phone, and twitter on your PS3.

Truly, we live in a time of miracles.

Time magazine put together their list of top new inventions for the year, and by all accounts it’s a pretty good list (seriously it’s a good read) and the rocket scientist in me is proud that the Ares 1-X took top honors. But what about all of you? What are your favorite new technologies of the year? I’ll post a few of my picks for 2009, but I would love to hear from everyone else on this as well.

So without further ado…

Craig’s Favorite Inventions of 2009!

• Cause I’m a rocket man…

What do a crazy British adventurer, a man with mutton chops the size of Florida, and more carbon composites than you can shake a stick at have in common? Burt Rutan’s Scaled Composites unveiled their design for Space Ship 2 this month as the first of (hopefully) many space ships for Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic.

While it’s still only sub-orbital, and tickets start at a hefty $200,000 a piece, a vacation in space is still a long way off, but hey, private aviation started the same way not to long ago!

• Is this the droid you’re looking for?

Smart phones are quickly becoming ubiquitous. It’s not just enough to make calls on the go and text message till you thumbs fall off, because if your phone can’t surf the web, play games, interpret multi touch gestures, play music and videos, and make phone calls, than you’re simply not cool.

Apple has the corner with its iPhone, and that’s something not likely to change soon, but the new phone, the Droid, is stepping up to the challenge. Whats it’s killer app?

You

The Droid is using a version of open source software so that anyone can easily create applications and modify the phone to their liking, something a tight lipped and tight reined Apple would never dream off.

• I am Iron Man… kinda

Lockheed Martin introduced their new third generation Human Universal Load Carrier (HULC) this year. Basically HULC is a lower body exoskeleton allowing soldiers to carry hundreds of pounds over any terrain without breaking a sweat.

Tony Stark… Lockheed isn’t the only one working on exoskeletons, Cyberdyne Inc. (yes, that’s really their name, it’s creepy I know) has developed the HAL 5 (seriously? I’m starting to worry a bit here) allowing a person to lift 5 times their body weight.

While they won’t let a person throw cars or fly at supersonic speed, and I’m certain they won’t gain a malevolent sentience and attempt to destroy the earth, I would still love to have one of these babies in my garage.

So these are my top 3, what cool stuff from 2009 is on your list?