A Sea Launched/landing Super Heavy SSTO?

[Guest]

Both fission and fusion are energy sources, in that they convert mass into energy. Solar is a form of fusion power.  Wind and tides are also energy sources, basically stealing some of the planet's kinetic energy for our own use, but they're not very useful for spaceflight (although you can do something similar in space by using gravity assists).

[K^2]

2 hours ago, Dragon01 said:

Wind and tides are also energy sources, basically stealing some of the planet's kinetic energy for our own use

Minor nitpick. Tides, yes. That energy is already "stolen" once you have a tide, so tidal generator just lets us make better use of it before it turns into heat, but you're still entirely correct on where it comes from.

Winds are more complicated. Rotation of the Earth shapes direction more than strength of the winds. Coriolis Force, like magnetic fields, does no work, because it's applied perpendicular to the motion. It's responsible for formation of Cyclones, yes, but not for the energy stored in them. The energy still comes primarily from solar via thermal convection. Yes, there's tidal contribution to wind as well, but most of the wind energy is ultimately solar.

[Guest]

Yeah, wind is pretty complex, a combination of solar, tidal and even geothermal and anthropogenic heating. Gliders, especially, can effectively gain free energy just by circling over a power plant or a city. This is a big part of why weather is so hard to predict.

[Codraroll]

5 hours ago, Dragon01 said:

Both fission and fusion are energy sources, in that they convert mass into energy.

Eh, in a sufficiently broad perspective, mass is just an exotic form of energy anyway. Nobody appears to make more of that either.

[kerbiloid]

The mass is just a mathematical abstraction.

[KSK]

5 hours ago, kerbiloid said:

The mass is just a mathematical abstraction.

That’s what I tell myself when I look in the mirror. I don’t think I’m convincing myself though.