  The Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble gases, Chemistry, and
Imaging (DAVINCI) mission described herein has been selected for flight to
Venus as part of the NASA Discovery Program. DAVINCI will be the first mission
to Venus to incorporate science-driven flybys and an instrumented descent
sphere into a unified architecture. The anticipated scientific outcome will be
a new understanding of the atmosphere, surface, and evolutionary path of Venus
as a possibly once-habitable planet and analog to hot terrestrial exoplanets.
The primary mission design for DAVINCI as selected features a preferred launch
in summer/fall 2029, two flybys in 2030, and descent sphere atmospheric entry
by the end of 2031. The in situ atmospheric descent phase subsequently delivers
definitive chemical and isotopic composition of the Venus atmosphere during a
cloud-top to surface transect above Alpha Regio. These in situ investigations
of the atmosphere and near infrared descent imaging of the surface will
complement remote flyby observations of the dynamic atmosphere, cloud deck, and
surface near infrared emissivity. The overall mission yield will be at least 60
Gbits (compressed) new data about the atmosphere and near surface, as well as
first unique characterization of the deep atmosphere environment and chemistry,
including trace gases, key stable isotopes, oxygen fugacity, constraints on
local rock compositions, and topography of a tessera.
