A wide variety of applications of imaging spectrometry have been demonstrated using data from aircraft systems. Based on this experience we have developed requirements for a satellite imaging spectrometer system to best characterize the littoral environment, for scientific and environmental studies and to meet Naval needs. This paper describes the process for determining those requirements and the resulting hyperspectral remote sensing technology (HRST) program. The HRST spacecraft has a coastal ocean imaging spectrometer with adequate spectral and spatial resolution and high signal to noise to provide long term monitoring and real- time characterization of the coastal environment. It includes on-board processing for rapid data analysis and data compression, a large volume recorder, and high speed downlink to handle the required large volumes of data. This is a joint program with an industrial partner,and their commercial remote sensing requirements are included in the system design.