Abstract A model which includes the relativistic effect is derived that can be applied to space very long baseline interferometry (SVLBI) while taking observations of sources at infinite distance. In SVLBI, where one station is on a spacecraft, the length of the baseline and the orbiting station’s maximum speed in an elliptical orbit around the Earth is much larger than the ground-based VLBI , which leads to a larger delay and higher delay rate. The delay models inside VLBI correlators are usually expressed as fifth-order polynomials during a limited time interval, which are evaluated by firmware in the correlator and track delays in the interferometer over the limited time interval. The higher SVLBI delay rate requires more accurate polynomial fitting and evaluation, as well as more frequent model updates.

Keywords astrometry — interferometric — analytical

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