warning Hi, we've moved to USCANNENBERGMEDIA.COM. Visit us there!

Neon Tommy - Annenberg digital news

Here Comes Santa Claus With NORAD

Roger Aguirre |
December 21, 2012 | 4:40 p.m. PST

Contributor

 

Get your update on Santa's current location from NORAD (Noradsanta.org)
Get your update on Santa's current location from NORAD (Noradsanta.org)
Christmas is quickly approaching and for anyone who is a kid at heart, NORAD is continuing their Santa Tracker, with a few updates.  

NORAD, or the North American Aerospace Defense Command, spends most of the year tracking airplanes, missiles and Spacecraft launches.   

But around the Christmas time, Norad puts their systems toward tracking Santa Claus, and as they put it: “We’re the only organization that has the technology, the qualifications, and the people to do it. And, we love it! NORAD is honored to be Santa’s official tracker!”

Since 1955 NORAD has been tracking Santa Claus after a Sears advertisement misprint with a phone number to call Santa.  Instead the calls went to Colonel Harry Shoup, the director of operations at the Continental Air Defense Command. Colonel Harry and his team then gave updates to all the callers about Santa’s progress through their radar. 

In 1958 Canada and the United States came together to form the North American Aerospace Defense Command in order to better track threats to North America. But with Canada being so close to the North Pole, the decision was that it would be easier to track Santa Claus as well. 

After tracking Santa Claus for so long, NORAD has also created a network of radar, satellites, Santa Cams, and fighter jets to follow old St. Nick. The Santa Cams, which are set up around the world, allow you to see Santa when he makes stops at various locations.  NORAD makes it clear that Santa doesn’t just visit Christian nations, but “all homes where children believe in him.”

But tracking Santa is also fairly difficult because he sets his route to only visit someone’s home when children are fast asleep, not to mention the speed he travels at.  Due to following Santa for so long though, NORAD has some idea of how he can travel the world in 24 hours. 

“NORAD intelligence reports indicate that Santa does not experience time the way we do. His trip seems to take 24 hours to us, but to Santa it might last days, weeks or even months. Santa would not want to rush the important job of delivering presents to children and spreading joy to everyone, so the only logical conclusion is that Santa somehow functions within his own time-space continuum.”  

NORAD does know for certain though that Santa Claus starts from the International Date Line in the Pacific Ocean and then travels west.

With NORAD tracking Santa Claus we can at least know he won’t be shot down like Jack Skellington. 

 

If you or anyone else, would like to track Santa you can Download the NORAD Tracks Santa app from Google Play, Apple App Store or the Microsoft App Store.  

You can also call 1-877 HI-NORAD (1 877 446-6723) or send an email to noradtracksanta@outlook.com to get an update on Santa's location exact location. 

You can Reach Contributor Roger Aguirre here.



 

Buzz

Craig Gillespie directed this true story about "the most daring rescue mission in the history of the U.S. Coast Guard.”

Watch USC Annenberg Media's live State of the Union recap and analysis here.

 
ntrandomness