Track Santa this Christmas: What is the ‘Santa Tracker’ and how did it come to be?

Christmas is incomplete without stories of the red-and-white-clad Santa Claus dropping gifts in every home; now, you can track him.

The long-bearded jolly gift-bearer with elf helpers, a reindeer sleigh, and the “Ho Ho Ho” chant is waited on by billions around the world. Thanks to technology, the anxiety of waiting is now over. With NORAD, the North American Aerospace Defence Command and Google, we can now track Santa’s live location from the morning of Christmas Eve as he delivers presents.

A chat with Radar, NORAD’s Reindeer Chatbot, two hours before Santa’s scheduled departure from the North Pole, revealed that Santa was getting ready, preparing for his flight as his elves were busy handling gifts in his workshop. According to NORAD, Rudolph’s nose gives off an infrared signature similar to a missile launch, which helps in tracking.

Santa tracking has become central to Christmas, often seen as a modern tradition observed around the globe. There are multiple websites and applications to do this, namely NORAD, Google, Microsoft, and Glympse, among others.

However, it all began with NORAD when the tracker was developed 70 years ago. The tracker, which NORAD says is a combination system of radar and satellites in a geosynchronous orbit, shows how Santa usually begins his journey in the Pacific Ocean before heading West.

In 1955, Sears Roebuck & Co. advertised in a Colorado Springs newspaper. The ad presented an opportunity for children to call Santa through a phone number. However, the number was misprinted, and the calls went to the Continental Air Defence (CONAD) Command’s director of operations, Col. Harry Shoup. Read more...

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