HIRMES WILL HELP RESEARCHERS DETERMINE THE LOCATION OF THE RAW MATERIALS THAT ARE THE BUILDING BLOCKS OF LIFE AND HOW THEIR POSITION WITHIN THE INTERSTELLAR MEDIUM HELPS PLANETARY SYSTEMS LIKE OUR OWN SOLAR SYSTEM EVOLVE. HIRMES BUILDS UPON SAMUEL HARVEY MOSELEY'S LONG HISTORY OF SUPERIOR INSTRNMENT DESIGN LIKE THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE MICROSHUTTER ARRAYS FOR THE JAMES WEBB SPACE TELESCOPE'S NEAR-INFRARED SPECTROMETER. THE HIRMES SPECTROMETER IS OPTIMIZED TO DETECT NEUTRAL ATOMIC OXYGEN WATER AS WELL AS NORMAL AND DEUTERATED ( OR "HEAVY") HYDROGEN MOLECULES AT INFRARED WAVELENGTHS BETWEEN 28 AND 112 MICRONS (A MICRON IS ONE-MILLIONTH OF A METER). THESE WAVELENGTHS ARE KEY TO DETERMINING HOW WATER VAPOR ICE AND OXYGEN COMBINE AT DIFFERENT TIMES DURING PLANET FORMATION AND WILL ENABLE NEW OBSERVATIONS OF HOW THESE ELEMENTS COMBINE WITH DUST TO FORM THE MASS THAT MAY ONE DAY BECOME A PLANET. HIRMES WILL PROVIDE SCIENTISTS WITH A UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY TO STUDY THIS ASPECT OF PLANETARY FORMATION AS SOFIA IS CURRENTLY THE ONLY NASA OBSERVAT01Y CAPABLE OF ACCESSING THESE MID INFRARED WAVELENGTHS. INFRARED WAVELENGTHS BETWEEN 28 AND 112 MICRONS WILL NOT REACH GROUND-BASED TELESCOPES BECAUSE WATER VAPOR AND CARBON DIOXIDE IN THE EARTH'S ATMOSPHERE BLOCK THIS ENERGY. SOFIA IS ABLE TO ACCESS THIS PART OF THE ELECTROMAGNETIC SPECTRNM BY FLYING BETWEEN 39 000 FEET AND 45 000 FEET ABOVE MORE THAN 99 PERCENT OF THIS WATER VAPOR.