Elon Musk is looking at the Arcadia plain of Mars. This is in the northern depression. His landing sites are all around 40°N: AP1 and AP9 northwest of Olympus; EM16 in the Erebus hills west of these; PM1 in the Phlegra range west of that. h/t Zimmerman (pdf).
Arcadia is a vast plain not unduly molested by craters (although, keep reading). Elon wants solar power, already on a budget 1.5 AU out. North is overall milder in winter than is the highland south. And it's just easier to land something at a non-polar latitude when approaching from the ecliptic. These particular four sites are better for ice, than other Arcadian sites; as Zimmerman notes however, it would suck to land on a glacier that then gets all slushy below you. Likely a third reason not to land north of 40°.
I ask why nobody considers the Hellas basin 40° south, that great exception to the whole "highland" thing. Wrong side of the ellipse, I guess; bad winters.
As to Erebus: is it just me, or was this a massive debris field from a strike coming in south-to-northeast? Looks quite orthogonal to ecliptic. Comet?
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