This machine is a collision sensor, which knew in a split second to activate your automobile air bag and cushion the impact of your collision with the inside of the car.
Too big to rely on air bags to cushion its fall as with previous Mars landers, Curiosity landed through an automated system of high-speed maneuvers, a supersonic parachute, eight retro-rockets and a set of "sky-crane" tethers that lowered the vehicle gently the last few feet to the ground.