>>13344660You could but that is not how or why Mercury will first be settled. Energy is abundant on Mercury due to its proximity to the sun and it has good heat dump potential (potentially).
Mercury should have an abundant supply of radioactive isotopes which will be why we will go there. Fusion and fission are unnecessary for a Mercurian colony. Energy supply for uranium mining and enrichment is abundant without them.
Mercuries core is easier to access than any other core I know of. We will learn a lot about planetary cores from Mercury. I very much suspect we will find a new range of materials consisting of elements beyond the island of stability within planetary cores. Along with the conditions necessary to stabilise them (though not, perhaps, to create them).
Near term futuristic outlook is we will be using fission beo for a long time and solar within 1au of the sun. Richer settlements like the moon and mars will likely be able to afford fusion. They will probably advance until they can harvest neutrons from the reactor to store and use as an on demand local fuel source.
However neutrons are heavy afaik so not very good for moving around. Fissile materials are similarly heavy and dense. Hence the allure of fusion as a mobile energy source for vessels which can travel beo.
Antimatter is the only way I know of to advance energy density beyond what fusion is capable of. Keep in mind it will consume large quantities of energy just to store antimatter.
It is interesting to consider the potential praxtical applications of antimatter as a fuel source however we are a long way from making any of the surrounding technology feasible.
