HIRMES-ENABLED SCIENCE ALIGNS CLOSELY WITH NASA S STRATEGIC PLAN TO DISCOVER HOW THE UNIVERSE WORKS EXPLORE HOW IT BEGAN AND EVOLVED AND SEARCH FOR PLANETS. HIRMES COMBINATION OF SENSITIVITY WAVELENGTH RANGE AND SPECTRAL RESOLVING POWER PROVIDES A CRITICAL NEW CAPABILITY. OVER THE COURSE OF 10 MILLION YEARS ACCRETION DISKS AROUND PRE-MAIN SEQUENCE STARS TRANSFORM FROM GAS-RICH REMNANTS OF STAR FORMATION INTO YOUNG PLANETARY SYSTEMS. THE PRIMARY PLANET-FORMING REGION IN THESE PROTOPLANETARY DISKS IS LOCATED WITHIN 20 ASTRONOMICAL UNITS AU OF THE SYSTEM S CENTER. THIS REGION IS CHARACTERIZED BY A MIXTURE OF WARM AND COLD GAS DUST AND ICE AND HAS BEEN ANALYZED USING A RANGE OF MOLECULAR AND ATOMIC LINES AND SOLID-STATE FEATURES IN THE MID- TO FAR-INFRARED. HOWEVER TO DELVE MORE DEEPLY TOWARD UNDERSTANDING PLANET FORMATION AND THE CREATION OF PLANETARY ATMOSPHERES REQUIRES THE HIGH-RESOLUTION MID- TO FAR-INFRARED (IR) SPECTROSCOPY HIRMES PROVIDES. HIRMES IS DESIGNED TO PERFORM DETAILED STUDIES OF IMPORTANT DISK CONSTITUENTS: WATER VAPOR AND ICE THESE MATERIALS PLAY A CRITICAL ROLE IN FORMING GIANT PLANET CORES AND PRODUCING HABITABLE CONDITIONS ON TERRESTRIAL PLANETS AND NEUTRAL OXYGEN AT TRACER OF DISK CHEMISTRY AND RADIAL STRUCTURE. HIRMES ALSO MEASURES MOLECULAR HYDROGEN THROUGH ITS TRACER HYDROGEN DEUTERIDE HD WHICH SHOULD MAKE UP MOST OF A PROTOPLANETARY DISK MASS BUT IS NOT ACCESSIBLE WITH EXISTING INSTRUMENTS. HIRMES WITH ITS HIGH SPECTRAL RESOLUTION RESOLVES NARROW EMISSION LINES AND INDEPENDENTLY DETERMINES THEIR ORIGIN IN A DISK FROM VELOCITY INFORMATION THUS BREAKING DEGENERACIES IN COMPLEX DISK MODELS. HIRMES MEASUREMENTS TRACE DISK DENSITY TEMPERATURE AND VELOCITY STRUCTURE AS WELL AS H2O VAPOR AND ICE TO LOCATE THE TRANSITION ZONE BETWEEN GASEOUS AND FROZEN WATER. OBSERVATIONS OF H2 OR BETTER YET ITS DEUTERATED COUNTERPART HD CAN UNIQUELY DETERMINE THE DISK GAS MASS AND THE DEGREE OF SETTLING OF THE SOLID MATERIAL IN DISKS. HIRMES PROVIDES A UNIQUE SPECTROSCOPIC CAPABILITY FOR SOFIA THROUGH ITS HIGH SENSITIVITY TYPICALLY 1 X 10-17 WM-2 OR BETTER AT 5??IN 1 HR 3 KM/S RESOLUTION AND HIGH SPECTRAL RESOLVING POWER R=?/ ???= 105 OVER THE 25 TO 122 M WAVELENGTH RANGE. THIS SPECTRAL REGION CONTAINS LOW-LYING TRANSITIONS OF HD AND H2O AS WELL AS THE STRONG OI 63 M LINE AND A LARGE NUMBER OF OTHER IMPORTANT IONIC ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR LINES FIGURE ES-2. THE INFRARED SPECTROGRAPH IRS ON SPITZER PROVIDED DATA UP TO ~37 M WITH A SPECTRAL RESOLVING POWER OF 600 WHICH IS TWO ORDERS OF MAGNITUDE LESS THAN HIRMES AND INSUFFICIENT TO RESOLVE LINES FROM PROTOPLANETARY DISKS. HIRMES RANGE CONTAINS THE TWO WATER-ICE FEATURES THAT ARE THE ONLY EMISSION TRACERS OF ICE IN PROTOPLANETARY DISKS AND HAVE BEEN POORLY COVERED BY PREVIOUS SPACE MISSIONS. THIS ENSEMBLE OF DIAGNOSTIC TOOLS WHICH WILL BE UNIQUE TO SOFIA WHEN IT INCORPORATES HIRMES PROMISES TO PROVIDE NEW INSIGHT INTO THE EVOLUTION OF PLANETARY SYSTEMS. HIRMES ON SOFIA CONTRIBUTES IN A UNIQUE WAY EVEN IN THE ERA OF ATACAMA LARGE MILLIMETER ARRAY ALMA JAMES WEBB SPACE TELESCOPE JWST HERSCHEL SPITZER AND ALL CURRENT AND PLANNED SOFIA INSTRUMENTS. THE HERSCHEL/PHOTOCONDUCTOR ARRAY CAMERA AND SPECTROMETER PACS PROVIDED SPECTRAL DATA AT WAVELENGTHS>55 M BUT ITS RELATIVELY LOW SPECTRAL RESOLVING POWER IS INSUFFICIENT TO OBTAIN LINE PROFILES FROM GALACTIC SOURCES. THE MID-INFRARED INSTRUMENT MIRI ON JWST WILL OPERATE TO 28 M WITH A SPECTRAL RESOLVING POWER OF 3000 WHICH IS 30 TIMES LESS THAN THAT PROVIDED BY HIRMES. THE SOFIA/ECHELON-CROSS-ECHELLE SPECTROGRAPH EXES AND SOFIA/GERMAN RECEIVER FOR ASTRONOMY AT TERAHERTZ FREQUENCIES GREAT INSTRUMENTS HAVE SMALL WAVELENGTH OVERLAPS WITH HIRMES. EXES AND HIRMES OVERLAP BETWEEN 25 AND 27 M; HOWEVER HIRMES HAS SIGNIFICANTLY HIGHER SENSITIVITY IN THE SPECTRAL OVERLAP REGION.