Every holiday season, millions of families around the world eagerly follow Santa Claus’s annual Yuletide trek which we would class as business travel!
This cherished tradition is made possible by the North American Aerospace Defence Command’s beloved NORAD Tracks Santa program.
Now in its 70th anniversary year, NORAD Tracks Santa blends high tech, holiday cheer, and a global volunteer effort to provide real-time updates on Santa’s journey from the North Pole to homes around the world.
How a 1955 wrong number led NORAD to start tracking Santa
The NORAD Tracks Santa story began by accident in 1955. Sears Roebuck & Co. placed a holiday advertisement in the Colorado Springs Gazette-Telegraph that encouraged children to call Santa Claus.
However, the phone number printed in the ad had a digit wrong. Instead of reaching the North Pole, the calls went to the Continental Air Defence Command Operations Centre (CONAD), the military unit responsible for monitoring US airspace during the early Cold War.
On December 24, 1955, a young child dialled the misprinted number hoping to reach Santa. The call landed on the desk of Air Force Col. Harry Shoup, CONAD’s director of operations.
At first, Shoup thought the call was a prank, but when the child sincerely asked where Santa was, he played along — and even asked to speak to the child’s mother after realising the caller had followed the newspaper directions. Shoup’s staff began giving out “locations” for Santa’s sleigh to callers throughout the night. That spontaneous act of holiday goodwill became an annual tradition.
When CONAD later became the North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD) in 1958, the Santa Tracker tradition continued under the new bi-national US–Canada command.
Inside the operations centre powering NORAD’s 70-year Santa mission
Behind the scenes of the tracker’s holiday-themed website and digital tools are people: volunteers from NORAD’s military and civilian workforce, their families, and supporters. According to NORAD officials, preparations begin in November, when inquiries start flooding in at NORADSanta.org. The site handled around 32 million views on Christmas Eve last year.
To support Santa, approximately 1,000 volunteers are expected to staff the phone lines and digital platforms on Christmas Eve this year. Last year, volunteers answered about 380,000 calls. They will again answer questions and share Santa’s progress with callers worldwide.
The Santa-tracking effort also has the support of over 50 corporate contributors.
The air-defence technology behind NORAD Tracks Santa
Although NORAD Tracks Santa is presented with a wink, the programme rests on one of the most sophisticated aerospace surveillance architectures in the world. Every Christmas Eve, the same systems that defend North American airspace form the backbone of Santa’s “mission profile.”
Keeping an eye on Santa’s progress is one of the most comprehensive and integrated air- and space-surveillance networks on the planet, bringing together ground radar, satellite and civil aviation data.
While Christmas offers a moment of fun, for the rest of the year, the North American Aerospace Defence Command is performing one of the most complex, continuous security missions in the world: keeping the skies over the United States and Canada safe, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Its technologies include:
- Radar systems, including the North Warning System across Alaska and northern Canada, are part of NORAD’s real airspace surveillance network and provide the backdrop for Santa’s “departure.”
- Satellites with infrared sensors, commonly used to detect heat signatures from rockets or missiles, are whimsically portrayed as detecting Rudolph’s bright red nose.
- Military aircraft, including US Air Force F-15s, F-16s, and F-22s, and Royal Canadian Air Force CF-18 fighters, are assigned each year to welcome Santa as he approaches North America and “escort” him through continental airspace. These aircraft are part of NORAD’s defence and are assigned to the special Santa mission as a festive nod to aerospace readiness.
How to track Santa with NORAD this year
NORAD has made it easy for families and Santa fans around the world to follow his progress. In addition to the latest Santa updates, the site offers family-friendly games, videos and information about Santa and NORAD from the beginning of December. Santa is a polyglot, so the NORAD site supports nine languages: English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish, Korean, and Chinese.
Santa tracker updates are available on several channels:
- Online at NORADSanta.org, with an interactive map, countdown clock, and holiday materials in several languages.
- Mobile apps for iOS and Android that let users explore Santa’s progress on the go.
- OnStar subscribers can ask the operator to locate Santa
- Amazon Alexa and Bing users can request Santa’s location
- SiriusXM listeners can follow his progress on Kid’s Place Live