Science News Roundup: China aims to put first Chinese on the moon before 2030; Odysseus moon lander hailed as success as it nears mission-ending slumber and more

China will coordinate and promote the application and development of its space station and manned lunar exploration this year, the state media said citing the China Manned Space Agency. Odysseus moon lander hailed as success as it nears mission-ending slumber Odysseus, the first U.S. spacecraft to land on the moon in half a century, neared a mission-ending slumber on Wednesday, six days after a lopsided touchdown that hindered its operation, though NASA and the company behind the vehicle cheered its performance as a success.

Following is a summary of current science news briefs.

North Korea's first spy satellite is 'alive', can manoeuvre, expert says

North Korea's first spy satellite is "alive", space experts said on Tuesday, after detecting changes in its orbit that suggested Pyongyang was successfully controlling the spacecraft - although its capabilities remain unknown. After two fiery failures, North Korea successfully launched the Malligyong-1 satellite into orbit in November. Pyongyang's state media claimed it has photographed sensitive military and political sites in South Korea, the United States and elsewhere, but has not released any imagery. Independent radio trackers have not detected signals from the satellite.

Iran's Pars 1 satellite enters space after Russian launch

Russia launched into space an Iranian research satellite which will scan Iran's topography from an orbit of 500 km (310 miles), Iran's state media reported on Thursday. The remote Pars 1 research-sensing satellite, launched by a Russian Soyuz rocket from the Vostochny Cosmodrome, weighs 134 kg (295 pounds) and is equipped with three cameras.

People with tails? No, because of this ancient genetic mutation

Director James Cameron's "Avatar" movies are populated by a species of outsized blue beings resembling humans, except with tails. So why does our species lack a tail, considering that our evolutionary forerunners in the primate lineage had them? Scientists on Wednesday identified what might be the genetic mechanism behind the tailless condition of us and our ape ancestors - a mutation in a gene instrumental in embryonic development. The tail was a feature of most vertebrates for more than half a billion years, and its loss may have offered advantages as our ancestors moved from the trees to the ground, they said.

China aims to put first Chinese on the moon before 2030

China said it aims to put the first Chinese on the moon before 2030, state television CCTV said on Thursday. China will coordinate and promote the application and development of its space station and manned lunar exploration this year, the state media said citing the China Manned Space Agency.

Odysseus moon lander hailed as success as it nears mission-ending slumber

Odysseus, the first U.S. spacecraft to land on the moon in half a century, neared a mission-ending slumber on Wednesday, six days after a lopsided touchdown that hindered its operation, though NASA and the company behind the vehicle cheered its performance as a success. Despite persistent difficulties in communicating with the lander and keeping its solar batteries charged, NASA said it managed to extract some data from all six of its science payloads delivered by Odysseus, built and flown by Texas-based Intuitive Machines.