India to Register Monday Next Giant Leap in Space Program

India is set to launch its second unmanned mission to the moon, registering a latest leap in its space program. 

The Indian Space Research Organization plans to launch a spacecraft using homegrown technology on Monday, and it is scheduled to touch down on the moon Sept. 6 or 7. 

It will "boldly go where no country has ever gone before," ISRO said in a statement referring to the unexplored south pole where the landing is scheduled.

The $141 million Chandrayaan-2 mission will analyze minerals, map the moon's surface and search for water.

Thanks to decades of space research, India looks insisting to solidify its place among the world's spacefaring nations. India also plans to send humans into space by 2022, becoming only the fourth nation to do so.

India's first lunar mission, Chandrayaan-1, whose name is 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.

The country's ambitions are playing out amid a resurgent space race. The US, which is marking the 50th anniversary this month of the Apollo 11 mission, is working to send a manned spacecraft to the lunar south pole by 2024.