Dubai: For the first time since setting up his Twitter account 11 years ago, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE nd Ruler of Dubai, changed his profile picture today.
Sheikh Mohammed replaced his profile picture with a red background picture, denating the red planet, with “Arabs to Mars” written as a logo at the bottom of the new photo.
Also written at the centre of the new photo is “Hope Probe 2020”.
The move comes in conjunction with the ongoing preparations to launch the Hope Probe, in the first-ever Arab mission to the Red Planet.
Earlier last week, Sheikh Mohammed launched the ‘Arab Space Pioneers’ programme that aims to build Arab expertise in space science and technologies.
On his Twitter account, Sheikh Mohammed said, “In the coming days, the UAE will launch the Hope Probe to Mars, the Arab world’s first interplanetary mission. And today, we are launching a programme to invite Arab youth to gain expertise in space technologies in the UAE.”
He added, “We strive to prepare the next generation of Arab astronomers and space scientists as part of our wider mission to revive the Arab civilisation’s status in the scientific sphere.”
The UAE’s mission is scheduled to launch between July and August 2020 and begin operations on Mars by February 2021. The Hope Probe will be launched from the Tanegashima Space Center in Japan. The same site was used for the KhalifaSat in 2018. The UAE has also launched missions from Kazakhstan, Russia, and India.
Sheikh Mohammed has created his twitter page in June 2009, and has so far more than 10.3 million followers, making his one of the most followed world leaders on Twitter.
