Is the NORAD Santa Tracker helpful in finding Santa every Christmas?
Skeptics have long questioned the physics of Santa Clause’s mystical journey, saying it isn’t possible that he could deliver presents to the entire world in a single night. Thankfully, the folks who protect our skies continue a program that allows believers to track Santa’s progress, and prove all the humbugs wrong. The mission began over 50 years ago, when a newspaper in Colorado Springs printed an ad with a phone number that encouraged children to call in and talk to Santa Clause. But the number was one digit off, directing kids to the Continental Air Defense Command, NORAD’s predecessor. Since then NORAD, the North American Aerospace Defense Command, has “tracked Santa,” showing off how their powerful tracking systems can follow jolly St. Nick on his journey from the North Pole and throughout the world. Now, the magical journey has become more than just tradition. As Santa takes off, the NORAD website will be updated with CGI videos of Mr. Christmas sailing over a world capitol or l
Merry Christmas! Christmas Eve, that is, and you know what that means. Santa Claus is coming to town! How long until he arrives? Can you spot him in flight? Yes, Virginia. There is a Santa Claus, and he can be tracked. Below, a round-up of Santa trackers. Most of the ones below come from NORAD, the missile tracking people. They’ve been tracking Santa for more than 50 years, thanks to a phone number that was misprinted (and sadly, the man who answered that phone and kicked this entire thing off died earlier this year — though the tradition continues). NORAD has developed a near monopoly on Santa tracking. Having written about the Santa Claus tracking space for several years, I found this year that alternative services that had existed now just seem to point to NORAD these days. NORAD does its thing through a partnership with Google that began formally in 2007. The entire “suite” of NORAD’s tracking tools can be found at the NORAD Santa site, which is available in a variety of languages.
