In 1975 the Science Research Council approved proposals from the Universities of Aston and Leicester for a new UK programme of optical tracking of satellites for geodetic analysis. The Hewitt Camera near Evesham (later referred to as 'the Malvern site') was initially manned by the Ordnance Survey and the SRC proposed that a second observing team from the University of Aston would also participate in the tracking. The Ordnance Survey, however, stopped using the Malvern Hewitt Camera in 1976 and planned to withdrew their personnel in 1978. To preserve the observation programme, the SRC took over funding of the Ordnance Survey team. The Ordnance Survey Satellite Tracking Unit was transferred to Aston in October 1978 and ownership of the Malvern Hewitt Camera was transferred to the SRC, as was ownership of a second Hewitt Camera which had been on loan to the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh. The SRC proposed a new research project using the Malvern camera, commencing on 1 October 1978.


When the Malvern site closed in 1982, the SRC decided to move the camera to join the satellite laser ranger at RGO Herstmonceux. The camera was installed in Dome C of the Equatorial Group of Telescopes and the observing team from Aston came with it, using the adjacent B laboratory as their office. The second camera was sent to Siding Spring Observatory, near Coonabarabran, New South Wales, where it operated from 1982-1990.


This class contains a 1978 proposal on the future of the UK Hewitt Camera and NASA press kit kept by the RGO Herstmonceux Satellite Camera Team (possibly unrelated).