Space X believes they have determined the cause of the Falcon 9 explosion on September 1 with early data analysis pointing to a "large breach" in the cryogenically cold helium system of an oxygen fuel tank in the rocket’s upper segment.
The helium is used to pressurize oxygen and kerosene rocket fuels and is stored at extremely high pressures according to Paulo Lozano, an aerospace engineer at MIT, which may have caused a rupture if the seals were insufficiently installed.
The data remains inconclusive but poses a more plausible explanation than the leading one to date, uncovered by UFO hunters who pointed to a rapidly moving black object that passed over the space ship right before explosion. Video footage calculations suggest that the UFO near the Space X Falcon 9 was travelling at a speed in excess of 1,000 MPH ruling out the possibility of a bird.
The UFO also appeared behind the stanchions surrounding the rocket ruling out the possibility that the video anomaly was simply a bug that appeared larger than it was passing along the lens of the camera frame.
There remains no definitive explanation as to what the flying object was that passed near the Space X Falcon 9 rocket near its time of explosion and the Space X/Tesla Founder Elon Musk even refused to rule out the possibility that a UFO may have caused the spontaneous blast that occurred during refueling of the vessel with the rocket system’s turned off when asked on social media.
The Space X Falcon 9 rocket was valued at over $60 million and was carrying a $200 million satellite to provide phone, video and internet services for the Middle East, Europe, and sub-Saharan Africa. The explosion destroyed the rocket in full, the satellite system and even the launch pad putting the cost of the blast at upwards of $300 million by some estimates.