The theory has been further fuelled by Space X referring to there being “an anomaly” on the launch pad in tweets – as this is a term used by governments instead of UFOs.

Many viewers of the video have pointed out it is likely to have been just be an insect or bird flying past the camera.

In fact, in other footage of the incident, a number of birds are seen flying past before the explosion.

But it hasn’t stopped a host of conspiracy theorists suggesting it was an alien strike on Space X and Facebook.

The rocket was carrying a satellite that would have allowed Facebook to spot-beam broadband for its Internet.org initiative to get its social media network to far-flung corners.

One posted: “If between the left tower and right tower there is at least a quarter mile and the so called bug beamed from one end to the other in 1/4 second.

“That bug is at least going 3,600mph minimum. Its not a bird, its an alien with a laser that destroyed the rocket. You can tell it is not a bird or a bug. Look at how the left tower hides the UFO behind it when you slow it down near the top. this indicated the UFO is behind the tower and not in-front of the camera lens dropping the possibility of a bug.

Garry Ermoloff added: “It’s too bad this slow version wasn’t the full video because that is not the only time that orb appears.

“It is in many frames and there are also birds flying by but the speed of the orbs and some crazy manoeuvers so fast that unless you quickly stop each frame to divide them you almost don’t even see the orbs but the birds give something to compare with the orb flying past.

Sharaf Khawaja posted: “What will the sceptics have to say about this smoking gun footage? These are high speed cameras capable of making crystal clear film.

“Anybody can analyse it frame by frame and see the entire UFO activity around the launch pad.

“Even SpaceX has called it an anomaly. The SpaceX rocket looks so dud in front of the UFOs moving at lighting speed.”

But others were less convinced.

Wayne Farmer said: “Gee, which is more likely: a UFO destroys the rocket, or volatile fuels accidentally ignite during rocket fuelling?

“UFO theorists, in this case Occam’s Razor applies.”

Website smobserved.com wrote: “While it is not clear at this time exactly how the anomaly caused the rocket to explode during refuelling, this much is clear – the aliens hate Facebook, much as they did MySpace. And they seem determined to destroy the social network.”

SpaceX, backed by entrepreneur Elon Musk, has had a turbulent past with its rockets, with the company still struggling to perfect several aspects.

It is trying to create a line of reusable rockets, but several have burnt up on their return, and others, such as this one, have failed to even make it off the ground.

However, in April, SpaceX did manage to land a Falcon 9 rocket onto an ocean platform having failed with its four previous attempts.