Abstract: This invention will allow a reusable thrust-powered sled mounted on an inclined track to launch spacecraft or airborne vehicles from earth at supersonic speeds using existing technology properly integrated into an inclined track system. If launched up a tunnel track, a rear blast shield can trap the rocket exhaust to provide a pneumatic boost upon launch. The sled can also launch ramjet or scramjet powered vehicles from earth by achieving the Mach 2+ speed necessary to ignite their engines. This system is much safer than the traditional method of launching rockets since weather is less a factor and the launch can be aborted if problems develop. Moreover, it is far less costly since the engines on the sled can be reused hours after a launch and the track can accommodate a variety of sleds to launch objects of many different sizes.

Abstract: There are many de-convolution algorithms (using Fourier transforms for example) that allow calculation of ki and Ri given the image values of I (xi, yi). The problem arises when the PSF's are closer together than a Rayleigh length: the number of artifact images (false images) available from a typical de-convolution algorithm may then be very large. Thus the overall probability of a false de-convolved image also is very large. This is the ambiguous image problem first identified by Toraldo di Francia (Reference 1). We solve this problem by finding the maximum in the Laplacian (i.e., take largest second derivative) along the isophote ridges on which the first derivative=0 (on a circle around the maximum). To correctly use this algorithm we must apply it to an off axis telescope.