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NORAD's Santa tracker ready to go
By SUZETTE PORTER
Article published on Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2007 |
PINELLAS COUNTY – The countdown has begun to Christmas Eve when Santa makes his trip to see all the good boys and girls around Pinellas and the rest of the world.
And NORAD is ready to track his annual journey.
A few other Internet sites have sprung up over the years that offer some method of Santa tracking. But the longest running and perhaps the most elaborate tracking system is NORAD’s, and who would be better equipped than the bi-national U.S.-Canadian military organization responsible for the aerospace defense of the United States and Canada.
The tradition began on Christmas Eve in 1955 after a Colorado Springs-based Sears Roebuck & Co. store advertisement for children to call Santa on a special "hotline" included an inadvertently misprinted telephone number.
“Instead of Santa, the phone number put kids through to the CONAD Commander-in-Chief's operations hotline,” according to the story at www.noradsanta.org. “The Director of Operations, Colonel Harry Shoup had his staff check radar data for any indication of Santa making his way south from the North Pole. Indeed there were signs of Santa and children who called were given an update on Santa's location. Thus, the tradition was born.”
This year, NORAD has teamed up with Google Earth, allowing Santa to be tracked in 3D. It is recommended that the software be downloaded in advance. Visit earth.google.com/santa.
NORAD takes its holiday mission seriously, as is explained on its Santa tracking Web site, created in 1998.
Four high-tech systems are used to track Santa and his reindeers, including a powerful radar system that is checked closely to detect exactly when Santa leaves the North Pole.
Satellites take over once Santa's sleigh is in the air, and NORAD uses Rudolph's nose, which gives off an infrared signature, to track the annual journey across the world.
The third system is the Santa Cam, which NORAD put into use in 1998 the same year the Santa tracking program made is debut on the Internet.
"We turn the cameras on about one hour before Santa enters a country then switch them off after we capture images of him and the reindeer," NORAD officials said.
The images are immediately downloaded to the Internet.
Jet fighters make up the last part of the tracking system. Canadian pilots take the first shift, flying out from locations throughout that northernmost country, to escort Santa as he makes his rounds. When Santa crosses the border, United States pilots take over the escort duty. About a dozen NORAD fighters in Canada and the United States are equipped with Santa Cams.
NORAD is not allowed to spend government funds on its holiday mission, so it relies on contributions from sponsors.
“Everything from computer servers, Web site design, video imaging, Santa's tracking map, and the toll free telephone number, to the souvenir Santa Tracker buttons volunteers are presented on Christmas Eve, companies, corporations and individual sponsors, or what we like to call partners, bring this program to children around the world,” NORAD officials said.
NORAD also counts on volunteers who spend part of their Christmas Eve at the Santa Tracking Operations Center answering phones and e-mails to provide Santa updates to thousands of inquiring children worldwide.
Last year, more than a million people visited the Santa tracking Web site, where not only can you find the link to download the tracking software, but also play several holiday themed games, plus read a history of Santa and more.
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Article published on Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2007
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