Image: Grant County Sheriff
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Measuring several feet across, these pressure vessels are particularly robust parts of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket designed to hold extremely cold helium used to pressurize fuel tanks. The vessel probably belonged to a Falcon 9 that was launched on March 4 from Cape Canaveral, Florida, to deliver a new batch of SpaceX’s Starlink satellites to orbit, reports Space.com.
The Seattle branch of the National Weather Service tweeted that unofficial information hinted that the March light show seen across the Pacific Northwest was likely the result of debris from the second stage of a Falcon 9 that failed to properly deorbit, or burn up in the atmosphere.
SpaceX has distinguished its Falcon rockets from other launch vehicles by developing a reusable first stage that can return to Earth for a landing after traveling to space to deploy payloads. The second (or upper) stage of the Falcon rocket, which sits on top of the first at launch, typically executes a controlled burn after it has completed its mission, enabling it to break apart in the atmosphere over oceans.For this particular spaceflight, however, there was not enough fuel left in the tank for a controlled deorbit, so the second stage fell into a more uncontrolled reentry over the Pacific Northwest, according to Ars Technica. Kyle Foreman, a public information officer for the Grant County sheriff's department said that SpaceX staff picked up the rocket part last Tuesday, reports NBC.