This handout artist impression given by the European Space Agency (ESA) shows planet the Venus Express and the planet Venus. The launch of Europe's first mission to Venus, due to have taken place next Wednesday, has been postponed by several days, the ESA said.(Photo: AFP/ESA/File)

    BEIJING, Oct. 24 (Xinhuanet)-- The launch of Europe's first Venus probe has been postponed, the European Space Agency (ESA) said Friday.

    Venus Express, designed to monitor the planet's unusual atmosphere, was to have been launched by a Russian Soyuz-Fregat rocket, operated by the company Starsem, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Wednesday at 0443 GMT.

    ESA said in a press release that the decision was made after pad workers found signs of contamination atop the spacecraft's Russian-built rocket.

    "A new launch date will be announced shortly," the brief statement said.

    Starsem and ESA will conduct more checks at the launch site in Kazakhstan, the agency said.

    Researchers hope Venus Express will shed new light on Venus' constantly cloudy atmosphere, as well as determine whether the planet is currently seismically or volcanically active, ESA officials said.

    The spacecraft will carry seven primary instruments to study the planet.

    The last spacecraft dedicated to taking a close look at Venus was NASA's Magellan probe, which mapped the planet for about four years after arriving in orbit in 1990. Enditem

    (Agencies)