Abstract: A space transport system for transporting payloads between points on the ground, in the air, and in outer space, includes a tether wheels able to accept payload from the ground or a low, slow position and transport it at high velocity to either another low, slow location on the same planet, or to a high speed space trajectory.

Abstract: A method for detecting the presence of signal channels in a wavelength-multiplexed optical signal comprises the steps of providing an initial estimate of channels to obtain a coarse spectral match, performing a coarse nonlinear deconvolutional algorithm on the wavelength-multiplexed optical signal, and finding peak power levels of the signal in the initially estimated channels. The signal channels are selected from the initially estimated channels based upon the peak power levels. In an embodiment, power levels in the signal channels of the wavelength-multiplexed optical signal are determined with refined accuracy by performing a fine nonlinear deconvolutional algorithm. In a further embodiment, the coarse and fine nonlinear deconvolutional algorithms are performed by using Jansson's nonlinear iterative method. The method is applicable to the testing of wavelength-multiplexed optical signals generated by broadband dense wavelength division multiplexers (DWDMs) and other optical communications devices.