That's the stuff where, when it works as planned, you say, "Hey! We got lucky!"
OK, here's the plan. We're gonna make this machine, and we're gonna shoot it to Mars, and just before it hits the ground going a hundred miles an hour, these air bags are gonna inflate in the nick of time just like in a car crash, and our little car is going to crash into Mars. And the air bag is going to save it. And then we'll deflate the air bag, the thing will fall a couple feet to the ground, and then it's gonna roll around and take pictures and send them back to us.
When that actually works, all you can think is, "Just damn!"