India will launch a rocket carrying 103 satellites next month in a record single mission, a report said Wednesday, as its famously frugal space agency looks to zoom ahead in the commercial space race.

The European Space Agency on Wednesday released stunning images of baby stars taking shape inside the Milky Way's Orion nebula.

The eggs of nonavian dinosaurs took three to six months to hatch, a long incubation period that could help explain dinosaurs' mass extinction 65 million years ago, according to new research.

As if 2016 has not been long enough, the year's dying minute will last an extra second to make up for time lost to Earth's slowing rotation, timekeepers say.

Groundbreaking astrophysicist Vera Rubin, who confirmed that the bulk of the universe is made up of invisible dark matter, has died in Princeton, New Jersey aged 88.

"Vera Rubin was a national treasure as an accomplished astronomer and a wonderful role model for young scientists," said Matthew Scott, president of the Carnegie Institution for Science.

Cheetahs are "sprinting" to extinction due to habitat loss and other forms of human impact, according to a new study out this week which called for urgent action to save the world's fastest land animals.

Thousands were expected to gather Saturday in Ohio for a memorial service to pay tribute to American space legend John Glenn, who died last week at the age of 95. 

The year 2016 has seen a rekindling of the human desire to conquer Mars, with public and private interests openly vying to take the first step on the Red Planet, possibly with a stopover on the Moon.

Space-faring nations are mostly united in viewing Mars as the next frontier with many still pooling their money and expertise to make the dream a reality, despite souring relations between them.

Japan will launch a cargo ship Friday bound for the International Space Station, carrying a 'space junk' collector that was made with the help of a fishnet company. 

John Glenn, who made history twice as the first American to orbit the Earth and the first senior citizen to venture into space, has died at the age of 95, the Ohio State University college bearing his name said Thursday.

The former astronaut had been admitted more than a week ago to the university's James Cancer Hospital, according to the John Glenn College of Public Affairs.