The flyby anomaly and the gravitational–magnetic field induced frame-dragging effect around the Earth

Abstract

ABSTRACT The anomalous energy difference observed during the Earth flybys is modelled here as a dynamical effect resulting from the coupling of the gravitational and the magnetic fields of the Earth. The theoretical analysis shows that general relativistic frame-dragging can become modified under the Earth’s magnetic field by orders of magnitude. For 12 flyby cases, including the null results reported in some recent flybys, the predicted velocities correspond to the observed velocities within the observational error. The gravitomagnetic effect is also shown to account for the linear distance relation, time-variation of the anomalous energy, and the reduction in the anomalous velocity for high-altitude flybys near the Earth.