Nobody was interested in Mars until we got there, and then it was like the dotcom boom all over again - rash levels of investment, an entire infrastructure thrown in all at once, instant collapse when reality bit. . . now it's unfinished cities and roads that go nowhere and empty airship terminals and a terraforming program that never even got started.
All the workers shipped back. Now all you'll find there is the scum of the solar system and a small group of young people who were purpose-bred and can't come 'home'.
The show's about their continuing survival and their long-term aim to secure a livable Mars for their descendants.