This will be the fiftieth year the North
American Aerospace and Defense Command (NORAD) will track Santa by
radar, satellites and camers, as he leaves the North Pole and
enters Canadian and American airspace.
The moment our radar tells us that Santa
has lifted off, we begin to use the same satellites that we use in
providing warning of possible missile launches aimed at North
America. ... The satellites have infrared sensors ... [and]
Rudolph's nose gives off an infrared signature similar to a missile
launch.
The third system we use is the Santa Cam. ... Santa Cams are ...
high-speed digital cameras that are pre-positioned at many places
around the world. NORAD only uses these cameras once a year -
Christmas Eve. 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. We immediately download the images on to our
web site for people around the world see. Santa Cams produce both
video and still images.
The last system we use is the NORAD jet fighter. Canadian NORAD
fighter pilots, flying the CF-18, take off out of Newfoundland to
intercept and welcome Santa to North America. Then at numerous
locations in Canada other CF-18 fighter pilots escort Santa, while
in the United States American NORAD fighter pilots in either the
F-15 or F-16 get the thrill of flying with Santa and the famous
Reindeer Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner,
Blitzen and Rudolph. About a dozen NORAD fighters in Canada and the
United States are equipped with Santa Cams.
Source:
How
we do it.
The tradition began 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." The Director of Operations, Colonel Harry
Shoup, received the first "Santa" call on Christmas Eve 1955.
Realizing what had happened, Colonel Shoup had his staff check
radar data to see if there was 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 position. Thus,
the tradition was born.
Source:
History
(why we track him).
Thanks to the Daily Wreless's
Tracking Santa post.