Continuous application of Lense-Thirring precession: flyby anomalies

[moving_on]

Not sure where to put this, but if it's wrong, sorry...
I just looked at the Nieto, Anderson paper on arXiv:
arXiv:0907.3418 "Earth Flyby Anomalies"

Funnily enough, it's about anomalies in the velocity of probes doing Earth flybys!

This has hit the scientific news (New Scientist this week) as they
have identified a specific amount that each one has been affected by
and a 'random' equation that seems to match the figure.
Today the Rosetta probe flyby could vindicate/trash this figure.

I must admit that I toyed with the equations and it is very easy to
come up with something close to the desired figure using various
methods. What worries me most about the 'random' equation is the
units the result would effectively be in...

I'm not a physicist (high school only!) but I love to read around these
things.
I've recently been reading about frame-dragging and Lense-Thirring
precession.
I was wondering whether the frame-dragging effect could cause the
perceived difference in incoming vs outgoing energy as observed.
Please be gentle...

 

[moving_on]

oh I forgot my personal favourite 'random' equation:

differentiate the formula for Lense-Thirring w.r.t to c dt.

i.e.
-2/5 Gmw/sqr(c)R

to get
-1/5 Gmw/cR

Apart from being the wrong sign and god knows what units,
the result is a gnat's whisker from the required one
(depending on how you calculate the radius of the earth!)

I could make up formulas for a living!