The Colonisation of Mars, and its sequel TCOM 2 and prequel Orion are science fiction novels written by Larry W Richardson.

This first book is about a multi-national one way trip to Mars in 2040 by 150 senior, 'expendable' scientists to finally establish a permanent Martian colony. It is a book about loss, about regret, and about being the last human on Mars and serves as a cautionary tale to Mars astronaut wannabes. 60-ish Sam Aiken shuns the soft life with the others in the 'Tube'. He explores the polar caps, Valles Marineris, climbs 'The Face' and Olympus Mons, digs through the wreckage, cast-off equipment and graves of early explorers and finds an ancient Martian life form. He drifts through the Mars of Bradbury, Heinlein, Richardson (Ha’h!) and others in search of sanctuary and comfort. He uncovers instead the shocking ruse behind the founding of the Colony and the ultimate reason why he was spared from the fate of the other colonists.

TCOM2 is a sequel; about the realities of the Mars colonisation and the relationship between the humans and the AIs and between the AIs themselves. Sam’s story as an explorer of Mars continues. Also there is a reveal about the life and capabilities of the Martian sub-surface life form.

In the initial book Sam explores the ruins of the Orion spaceship sent in 1970 by the USAF on a mission to claim Mars. The Orion fiction book is the dramatic story of the 1970’s mission and uses a lot of info from the book “Project Orion - The True Story of the Atomic Spaceship” by George Dyson which was published in 2002. Incredibly, such a mission was actually in the planning stages in the 1950s until it was cancelled due to the re-direction of all USSR and US space exploration efforts to the Moon and to a much lesser degree, due to fears re the impact upon the Earth’s inhabitants of the many, many atomic explosions required to launch Orion into space.