The Far-Infrared Spectroscopic Surveyor (FIRSS)

We are standing at the crossroads of pow- erful new facilities emerging in the next decade on the ground and in space like ELT, SKA, JWST, and Athena. Turning the narrative of the star formation potential of galaxies into a quantitative theory will provide an- swers to many outstanding questions in astrophysics, from the formation of planets to the evolution of galax- ies and the origin of heavy elements. To achieve this goal, there is an urgent need for a dedicated space- borne, far-infrared spectroscopic facility capable of de- livering, for the rst time, large scale, high spectral reso- lution (velocity resolved) multiwavelength studies of the chemistry and dynamics of the ISM of our own Milky Way and nearby galaxies. The Far Infrared Spectro- scopic Surveyor (FIRSS) fullls these requirements and by exploiting the legacy of recent photometric surveys it seizes the opportunity to shed light on the fundamental building processes of our Universe.