The North American Aerospace Defense Command and its top-notch radar system will tell you when to get your cookies and milk ready for Santa’s arrival.
For 63 years, the organization otherwise tasked with detecting aerospace activity has turned its attention to Santa Claus on Christmas Eve — tracking his sleigh and nine reindeer as they glide through the night to every child’s house — well, the ones he’s deemed good for the year.
It’s a tough task, but NORAD says they are the “only organization that has the technology, the qualifications and the people to do it.”
And even if the federal government has shut down, NORAD announced Friday they’ll continue to track Santa’s journey. Military personnel and more than 1,500 volunteers will field calls on Santa’s location and continue the decades-old tradition.
The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) continues to operate its famous “Santa Tracker” website despite the partial shutdown, which went into effect when the clock struck midnight on Saturday (Dec. 22).
You can also follow Santa’s frenetic journey around the globe via the “NORAD Tracks Santa” Twitter account, @NoradSanta.
NORAD is tracking #Santa as he delivers presents worldwide. Follow #Santa at https://t.co/SgFzAHp7gm @NoradSanta #HappyHolidays https://t.co/PkIVFUFhRg
— NORAD & USNORTHCOM (@Norad_Northcom) December 24, 2018
NORAD, a joint effort of the United States and Canada, has been monitoring Santa’s reindeer-powered movements since 1955.
That year, a Sears store in Colorado Springs ran an ad in a local newspaper that included a phone number kids could dial to talk to Santa.
But that number was a misprint: It actually routed children to the director of operations at a Colorado Springs facility of NORAD’s predecessor organization, CONAD (Continental Air Defense Command).
The man who answered those initially confusing calls, Col. Harry Shoup, displayed some admirable Christmas spirit, and a tradition was born.
Nowadays, NORAD tracks Santa using all sorts of high-tech gear, including radar dishes, satellites and strategically placed “SantaCams.”
NORAD team members also gets lots of help from volunteers, which is how they’re able to keep the red and green lights on every holiday season.
NASA isn’t getting through the shutdown similarly unscathed; about 95 percent of space agency personnel will be furloughed, including the folks who run NASA TV.
But NASA will continue to support its many operational spacecraft and keep these missions’ data flowing.
So, the OSIRIS-REx probe will still begin orbiting the asteroid Bennu on Dec. 31, and the New Horizons spacecraft will still fly by the distant object Ultima Thule at 12:33 a.m. EST (0533 GMT) on Jan. 1.