Discovery Program in 2019, and selected for Phase A funding on February 13, 2020. Its Concept Study Report was submitted in November 2020. In June 2021, NASA selected DAVINCI+ as one of the next Discovery class missions. The mission's name was reverted to DAVINCI after selection.

The DAVINCI Principal Investigator is James B. Garvin of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) and the Deputy Principal Investigators are Stephanie Getty and Giada Arney,