The measurements taken by DAVINCI will investigate the possible history of water on Venus and the chemical processes at work in the unexplored lower atmosphere.

DAVINCI scientists will explore how Venus's atmosphere formed and then changed over time, including what happened to the water that is thought to have once existed on the planet.

The findings will help scientists understand why Venus and Earth took such different paths as they matured,[18] and provide another point of comparison for studies of rocky exoplanets.

[20] DAVINCI's four science instruments are:[2][18][21] Proposed to be built by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), VMS will provide the first comprehensive in situ surveys of noble and trace gases at Venus, and has the capability to discover new gas species in the Venusian atmosphere.

[22] Proposed to be built by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), VTLS will provide the first highly sensitive in situ measurements of targeted trace gases and associated isotope ratios at Venus, addressing key science questions about chemical processes in the upper clouds and the near-surface environment.

Proposed to be built by GSFC using flight-proven sensors, and led by Ralph Lorenz and Dave Atkinson of the Applied Physics Laboratory and JPL respectively, VASI will provide measurements of the structure and dynamics of the Venusian atmosphere during entry and descent, providing context for chemistry measurements and enabling reconstruction of the probe's descent.

[23] To be built by Malin Space Science Systems (MSSS), VenDI will provide high-contrast images of the tessera terrain at the descent location.

On the orbiter, a multi-spectral camera with narrow and wide-angle modes will image the planet in the UV and the 1-micron near-infrared band.