India is preparing to launch a spacecraft to the Moon, becoming the only the fourth country to make a soft landing on the surface.

The unmanned lander and rover had been due to lift off on Monday and to touch down near the Moon’s unexplored south pole on 6 or 7 September, becoming the first ever spacecraft to land in that region. However, India postponed the launch.

After that the rover will analyse minerals, map rock formations on the surface and search for water.

The lunar south pole is especially interesting because a much larger portion of it is in shadow than the north pole, presenting a greater possibility of water.

Water is an essential ingredient for life, and finding it is part of science’s broader goal of determining whether there is life elsewhere in our solar system.

Apollo 11 mission: Historic first moon landing in photos Show all 19 1 /19 Apollo 11 mission: Historic first moon landing in photos Apollo 11 mission: Historic first moon landing in photos Buzz Aldrin walks on the moon in an image taken by Apollo 11 commander Neil Armstrong. Nasa/EPA Apollo 11 mission: Historic first moon landing in photos Wernher von Braun in front of the Saturn V rocket, being readied for the lunar mission, in Cape Canaveral on 10 July 1969. Nasa/EPA Apollo 11 mission: Historic first moon landing in photos The Saturn V rocket carries the Apollo 11 into space on 16 July 1969. Nasa/EPA Apollo 11 mission: Historic first moon landing in photos The crew (from left): Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin. Nasa/EPA Apollo 11 mission: Historic first moon landing in photos The launch control centre watches the rocket take off on 16 July 1969. Nasa/EPA Apollo 11 mission: Historic first moon landing in photos The American flag flutters as the Apollo 11 heads into space. Nasa/EPA Apollo 11 mission: Historic first moon landing in photos The interior of the landing module with its pilot, Buzz Aldrin, during the mission. Nasa/EPA Apollo 11 mission: Historic first moon landing in photos Earthrise viewed from the lunar landing module. Nasa/EPA Apollo 11 mission: Historic first moon landing in photos Flight controllers at the Space Centre in Houston as the landing module descends to the surface of the moon. Nasa/EPA Apollo 11 mission: Historic first moon landing in photos The landing module in lunar orbit on 20 July 1969. Nasa/EPA Apollo 11 mission: Historic first moon landing in photos Buzz Aldrin's boot and footprint in lunar soil. Nasa/EPA Apollo 11 mission: Historic first moon landing in photos Buzz Aldrin standing by the US flag planted on the surface of the moon. Nasa/EPA Apollo 11 mission: Historic first moon landing in photos Crater 308 on the moon. Nasa/EPA Apollo 11 mission: Historic first moon landing in photos Buzz Aldrin’s boot print in the moon’s dust. Nasa/EPA Apollo 11 mission: Historic first moon landing in photos Aldrin deploys the passive seismic experiment package. To the left of the US flag in the background is the lunar surface television camera. Nasa/EPA Apollo 11 mission: Historic first moon landing in photos Buzz Aldrin stands next to a lunar seismometer. Nasa/EPA Apollo 11 mission: Historic first moon landing in photos Neil Armstrong works near the lunar landing module. Nasa/EPA Apollo 11 mission: Historic first moon landing in photos Members of the Apollo 11 crew wait to be picked up by a helicopter from the USS Hornet on 24 July 1969. Nasa/EPA Apollo 11 mission: Historic first moon landing in photos US president Richard Nixon welcomes the Apollo 11 astronauts, confined to a mobile quarantine facility, aboard the USS Hornet. Nasa/EPA

The $141m (£112m) Chandrayaan-2 mission will “boldly go where no country has ever gone before” the Indian Space Research Organization said.

Previously only the US, China and the former Soviet Union have made soft landings on the Moon.

India’s first lunar mission, Chandrayaan-1, Sanskrit for “moon craft”, orbited the Moon in 2008 and helped confirm the presence of water.

In 2013-14, India put a satellite into orbit around Mars in the nation’s first interplanetary mission.

Some have questioned the expense in a country of 1.3 billion people with widespread poverty and one of the world’s highest child mortality rates.

But author and economic commentator Gurcharan Das said the cost of the second moonshot was small compared with India’s overall budget and that the project could have a multiplier effect on the economy.