I also saw one, different, wherein the solution was that the shell curled in on itself and compressed, like squeezing a scroll. This was pre-Outer Limits, too,

I also saw one, different, wherein the solution was that the shell curled in on itself and compressed, like squeezing a scroll. This was pre-Outer Limits, too, if I am right. The main premise was that a monomaniacal skillionaire decided to hoax the planet into uniting against a horrible threat inside Jupiter. The last transmissions from this doomed ship, as it descended through the ever-thicker atmosphere, was a kind of Lovecraftian exhortation that they were too horrible for him to properly describe, ending in "Defend! Defend!" before cutting out.