Whichever distro you decide on (the current top comment is correct in implying that it really doesn’t matter), just look up how its program manager works. It’s usually not hard to use, but it does vary from distro to distro.

Unlike Windows, you usually want to install Linux programs from the distro’s “app store” instead of downloading each program from its website. However, what’s called “app image files” do exist. I want to emphasize, though, that these should be your last resort.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_field_of_Mars?wprov=sfla1

Mars does have some magnetism. However, we have already measured Mars with (at least two) satellites and determined that there is no magnetosphere.

Rimworld. Does have a native Linux port. It’s a colony simulator in space. 2D. It you have a lot of control over your colony, you can micro manage everything. I have over 1000 hours in the game.