SpaceX should run a Mars MOOC that looks at the planet from a colonization perspective
SpaceX should run (possibly in cooperation with a university) a Massively Open Online Course on Mars and questions related to Mars colonization.
There are excellent MOOCs on Solar System astronomy, like Caltech's The Science of the Solar System taught by Mike Brown. It has a lot of material on Mars specifically, but it deals mostly with Mars's geological and climatological history and doesn't cover many of the questions potential colonists might be interested in. Like health hazards due to Martian soil chemistry, Martian geology from an industrial perspective, lava tubes or other ways to mitigate solar radiation, terraforming, etc.
It could cover topics that are not strictly Mars related but important for colonization, like space medicine or orbital mechanics and the basics of Entry, Descent and Landing on Mars.
For SpaceX it would be another avenue to talk about their Mars plans, perhaps present their architecture in more detail, and show their investors that there's potential interest. They could even offer to count paid certificates towards an eventual ticket to Mars. Although with commercial flights being 15-20 years into the future, by optimistic estimates, that might be a bit too much. But either way it would be a way to show that there's interst and people are potentially willing to spend money towards it.
So do you think it would make sense for SpaceX to do this? Would you be interested in taking the course? If yes, what topics would you like to see covered?