The flyby anomaly: A case for strong gravitomagnetism?

In the last two decades an anomalous variation in the asymptotic velocity of spacecraft performing a flyby manoeuvre around Earth has been discovered through careful Doppler tracking and orbital analysis. No viable hypothesis for a conventional explanation of this effect has been proposed and its origin remains unexplained. In this paper we discuss a strong transversal component of the gravitomagnetic field as a possible source of the flyby anomaly. We show that the perturbations induced by such a field could fit the anomalies both in sign and order of magnitude. But, although the secular contributions to the Gravity Probe B experimental results and the Lense Thirring effect in geodynamics satellites can be made null, the detailed orbital evolution is easily in conflict with such an enhanced gravitomagnetic effect.Acedo Rodríguez, L. (2014). The flyby anomaly: A case for strong gravitomagnetism?. Advances in Space Research. 54(4):788-796. doi:10.1016/j.asr.2014.04.01478879654