Descent of MASCOT to the surface of Ryugu from release (MR) to its first contact on the ground (CP1) with events as dots in panels a and b. Yellow dots: release and first ground contact, black dots: position of MASCOT when seen in ONC images, red dots: position of MASCOT at the time of four MASCam images. Panel a: ground profile of MASCOT’s descent path on top of ONC orthoimage map (thin line: MASCOT’s bouncing path). Panel b: vertical profile of MASCOT’s descent path (purple) and the surface of Ryugu (gray). Panel c: MASCOT’s descent velocities over time (blue: vertical, red: horizontal, purple: total 3D).