This near-future science fiction tale follows Alyssa Wright, who expects to lead a crew on a mission to Mars. Right away, her hopes are dashed, even as the MARS ONE crew is in last week's quarantine. A suspicious accident means Alyssa is replaced by a stranger, Ana, who looks great on television. This may or may not be related to the fact that a reality TV show production team owned by Lars Anders is funding the rocket.

Much of the action occurs in Asia. The launch site is Baikonur in remote Kazakhstan. Aside from that, a young woman in Hong Kong, who has tried but given up on environmental protests, is scared when her brother vanishes. Kai, a coder, leaves nothing but a message asking his sister, Jia, to take care of his cat, Orion. Security police seem very interested in Kai, so Jia stuffs the cat in a pack and makes a run for it. She doesn’t even like cats, but she gets to know the handsome, smart ginger cat and discovers why she needs to care for him. Before long, they had hitched a ride on an environmental warrior ship, looking for another coder.  

Meanwhile, the Argo spaceship is preparing to launch, but Alyssa suspects someone is sabotaging the mission in order to increase the TV ratings. Our guide within the astronaut group switches to Rubio, a semi-washed- up artist whose job it is to help build a new colony on Mars. Rubio is not much of a hero, but everyone getting on board a can sitting on explosives and preparing to go out to the blackness of space is a hero.

Not nearly enough consideration is given to the mechanics of establishing a colony on Mars. See THE MARTIAN by Andy Weir for more details on the work needed for a brief stay. The idea is that more rockets will follow, and then the colonists might choose to leave the red planet or remain. Nobody else might follow if the Argo can’t make it in one piece.

The first novel by a former TV production professional, Charlotte Robinson, is heavy on the aspects of how to broadcast live amid time lags, how people would react to constant surveillance, and the lack of privacy. The MARS ONE author also examines what private enterprise might fund and why, in perhaps direct opposition to state actors. Some of the episodes in a tension-filled narrative are beyond belief, but in Kazakhstan, we see the dried-up Aral Sea, which brings home the message of the environmentalists that Earth is our home and we need to treat it better. As, indeed, the characters should treat the cat better. The tale verges on technothriller and should be enjoyed by space fans everywhere.