India is hours away from its second attempt to land a spacecraft on the moon - a mission seen as crucial to lunar exploration and the country's standing as a space power, just days after a similar Russian lander crashed. The Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft will attempt to land on the lunar south pole at 6.04pm local time (1234 GMT) on Wednesday, less than a week after Russia's Luna-25 mission failed. India's mission - Chandrayaan means "moon vehicle" in Hindi and Sanskrit - is its second attempt to land there. In 2019, ISRO's Chandrayaan-2 mission successfully deployed an orbiter but its lander crashed. On Wednesday, ISRO said it was set to activate the automatic landing sequence of the spacecraft, triggering the algorithm that will take over once it is above the designated spot, helping it to land. If it lands successfully, the Chandrayaan-3 is expected to remain functional for two weeks, running a series of experiments including a spectrometer analysis of the mineral composition of the lunar surface. "Landing on the south pole (of the moon) would actually allow India to explore if there is water ice on the moon and this is very important for cumulative data and science on the geology of the moon," said Carla Filotico, a partner and managing director at consultancy SpaceTec Partners. The mood was upbeat at the spacecraft command centre on the outskirts of Bengaluru a few hours before the scheduled landing as ISRO officials and scientists hunched over massive screens monitoring the lander. Anticipation and excitement for the landing in India has been feverish, with banner headlines across newspapers and news channels running countdown timers to the landing. Prayers were held at places of worship across the country, and schoolchildren waved the Indian tricolour as they waited for live screenings of the landing. On the banks of the Ganga river, considered holy by Hindus, children gathered to pray for a safe landing, and mosques in several places offered special prayers. Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri offered prayers for Chandrayaan at a Sikh temple, known as a gurudwara, in the capital New Delhi. "Not just economic but India is achieving scientific and technological progress as well," Puri told reporters. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will watch the landing from South Africa, where he is attending the BRICS summit. Rough terrain makes a south pole landing difficult, and a first landing would be historic. The region's water ice could supply fuel, oxygen and drinking water for future missions. For India, a successful moon landing would mark its emergence as a space power as Modi's government looks to spur investment in private space launches and related satellite-based businesses. Australian Associated Press