14 DAY TRIAL // Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock, a leading scientist at the European aerospace company Astrium, believes that we are constrained in trying to imagine how aliens might look like by animals and plants we see around us. She proposes a “design” that is inspired by scientific fact, not fiction.
As visible above, the creature is a silicon-based lifeform, which does not look or behave like anything we know. Though it vaguely resembles a jellyfish, the creature uses its large mouth to take in gases on which to feed. According to Aderin-Pocock, it floats through the atmosphere of gas giants.
This means that it largely consumes hydrogen and helium, while the necessary energy for conducting metabolic processes would come from photosynthesis. The tentacle-like appendages are used to suck in or release gases, which contribute to controlling buoyancy.
The entire creature could be about the size of a football field. Aderin-Pocock believes that the lifeform could have an orange underbelly, so as to safeguard itself from potential predators. The alien could communicate with others via light pulses emitted from its head, The Independent reports.