HIRMES PROVIDES A COMBINATION OF SENSITIVITY AND SPECTRAL RESOLUTION THAT OPENS A UNIQUE AND USEFUL WINDOW ON THE EVOLUTION OF PLANETARY SYSTEMS TO THE SOFIA COMMUNITY. THE INSTRUMENT HAS UTILITY FAR BEYOND THIS SPECIFIC INVESTIGATION PROVIDING TOOLS FOR A RANGE OF GALACTIC STUDIES SUCH AS STELLAR OUTFLOWS AND THEIR IMPACT ON THE INTERSTELLAR MEDIUM. HIRMES ORDER-OF-MAGNITUDE SENSITIVITY IMPROVEMENT COMPARED TO GREAT IS CRUCIAL FOR THIS SCIENCE PROGRAM INCREASING THE NUMBER OF OBSERVABLE SOLAR MASS PROTOPLANETARY SYSTEMS FROM ZERO TO HUNDREDS. THE INSTRUMENTS GRATING MODE SPECTROSCOPY IS A POWERFUL TOOL FOR THE STUDY OF WATER ICE EMISSION IN A WIDE RANGE OF OBJECTS A CAPABILITY LARGELY ABSENT SINCE THE KUIPER AIRBORNE OBSERVATORY (KAO) AND INFRARED SPACE OBSERVATORY (ISO).