Industrialist Elon Musk wants to begin colonizing Mars by 2030, while writer Ken Kalfus thinks we should take a more cautious approach, sending unmanned probes to Alpha Centauri, using the time between blast-off and “landing” in 500 years or so to work on Earth’s problems. Only one of these people has billions of dollars and the ability to raise many more billions, which may preclude any in-depth debate on our path forward. Musk discussed his mission to Mars and other subjects in a Reddit AMA, the day before SpaceX scrubbed its Falcon 9 attempt to land a rocket on a barge. A few exchanges follow.

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Question:

Could you please clarify what the Mars Colonial Transporter actually is? Is it a crew module like Dragon, a launch vehicle like Falcon, or a mix of both? Does it have inflatable components? Is MCT just a codename?

Elon Musk:

The Mars transport system will be a completely new architecture. Am hoping to present that towards the end of this year. Good thing we didn’t do it sooner, as we have learned a huge amount from Falcon and Dragon.

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Question:

SpaceX’s current strategy revolves mostly around old style Rockets, even if they are now approaching complete reusability (Grasshopper rocks). Has SpaceX looked into Hybrid craft like the SABRE program happening in the UK, or look into the possibility of a space elevator (Even at a thought experiment stage) in the way that Google and NASA have done?

Elon Musk:

If you want to get to orbit or beyond, go with pure rockets. It is not like Von Braun and Korolev didn’t know about airplanes and they were really smart dudes.

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Question:

How does SpaceX plan to address the limitations and contribute to the advancement of current spacesuit technology to best serve humans enroute and on the surface of Mars? You mentioned in 2013 that there’d be an update to SpaceX’s “spacesuit project” soon – how is it coming along?

Elon Musk:

Our spacesuit design is finally coming together and will also be unveiled later this year. We are putting a lot of effort into design esthetics, not just utility. It needs to both look like a 21st century spacesuit and work well. Really difficult to achieve both.

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Question:

How will you secure the first stage of the Falcon 9 to the barge when it lands? Gravity or some mechanism?

Elon Musk:

Mostly gravity. The center of gravity is pretty low for the booster, as all the engines and residual propellant is at the bottom. We are going to weld steel shoes over the landing feet as a precautionary measure.

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Question:

Previously, you’ve stated that you estimate a 50% probability of success with the attempted landing on the automated spaceport drone ship tomorrow. Can you discuss the factors that were considered to make that estimation?

Elon Musk:

I pretty much made that up. I have no idea :)