High-tech eye is on Santa

0 Comments | Gazette, The (Colorado Springs), Dec 25, 2006 | by TOM ROEDER THE GAZETTE

Last night, Santa was being watched and even followed by billions of dollars worth of high-tech equipment, including America's newest fighter, the F-22 Raptor.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command pulled out all the stops this year in tracking the toy-packing figure from the North Pole. With nearly 800 volunteers, 350 more than last year, the American-Canadian alliance spent Christmas Eve answering thousands of phone calls and e-mails from children who wanted the latest fix on Santa.

Despite the Web site image of supersonic planes seen flying beside a sleigh pulled by eight reindeer, NORAD spokeswoman Maj. Stacy Reddish says pilots were just greeting Santa, not providing him an armed escort.

"We're not in fear for Santa's safety," said Reddish, a member of the Air Force Reserve. "Santa can take care of himself."

The command has been tracking Santa since 1955, when the wrong phone number was placed in a department store advertisement in The Gazette. The ad encouraged kids to call Santa, but the number went to the nation's air defense headquarters.

Troops in Colorado Springs fielded the calls and added a military twist by providing radarbased tracking data on Santa's location.

Now, the command fields nearly a billion visits to its Santa- tracking Web site each year along with countless e-mails and hundreds of thousands of phone calls.

NORAD last night used many resources to keep an eye on Santa. The command's Web site describes one of the most recent innovations used to track his progress delivering toys.

"The third detection system we use is the Santa Cam," the Web site says. "NORAD Santa Cams are ultra-cool high-tech high-speed digital cameras that are pre-positioned at many places around the world. NORAD only uses these cameras once a year -- Christmas Eve."

Reddish declined to discuss the technology behind the cameras, which are reportedly placed aboard satellites in geostationary orbit. The cameras provide realtime images of Santa, who covers the globe at a speed that exceeds 2,280 miles per second -- about 500 times faster than NASA rockets.

Reddish said the effort going into tracking Santa, though, doesn't cost taxpayers anything. The phones are staffed by volunteers, and even the Santa-tracking Web site is paid for with donations.

The work has brought sleighloads of good will from children who e- mail Santa through the command's Web site, www.noradsanta.org.

"I am in England I have just been on your Web site to track where you are in the world," an e-mailer named James wrote to Santa through NORAD's site. "I think it is brilliant. I know exactly when you are coming this year."

Reddish said the best part of the effort is the enthusiasm U.S. and Canadian Service members show for helping children around the globe prepare for Santa's arrival.

"This is a little piece of the human side of the military."

CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0240 or tom.roeder@gazette.com