... a colonization ark.

There are some other non-FTL technologies that are as popular as multi-generational starships.

One is having the human cargo ride in stasis on robotically run ships or with a small human crew that reproduces in route.
The Last Cuentista by Dona Barba Higuera is a sci-fi story based on this model. It does not go well for the human cargo. This won the 2022 Newbery, but don't let that award for children's and young adult lit. fool you into thinking this is not a serious thoughtful book. It is like all the best writing in that it can be read on many levels.

Another is having the human cargo upload their consciousness to data storage and have their bodies cloned and their consciousnesses downloaded when needed.
From the title alone you can guess this does not go well in Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty. It tells the story of the murdered crew of the spaceship Dormire as the murders are investigated by the victims' clones. It is a terrific sci-fi murder mystery and it is like Murder on the Orient Express with all the suspects trapped together, and everyone has a motive and something to hide.

But if you are really committed to colonizing Mars then the Lady Astronaut series by Mary Robinette Kowal is a great one to get not just the science of such an undertaking but also the political and social aspects too.
The Calculating Stars is book 1 of the series. The story begins with a meteorite that stikes the Earth just off the coast of Deleware destroying most of the East coast and starting the space race a decade early in the days of human computers. Book 2 is what happens on the trip. Book 3 swings back to look at what is happening on Earth during the astronauts' trip. And Book 4, which I haven't read yet (saving it for a long road trip) is on the Mars.