Non-Subscriber Extract
Santa’s sortie safe as NORAD tracks his progress
- Article Tools
| 20 December 2002 |
By Peter Felstead, janes.com editor
With
the ABM Treaty consigned to history and ballistic missile defence in full
swing – not to mention the renewed threat to civil aviation from manportable
surface-to-air missiles – it can be seen how perilous a journey Santa’s
could be on Christmas Eve given that he never files a flight plan. The dense
infra-red signature emitted by Rudolph’s nose alone has led many aviation
experts to advocate the fitting of chaff and flare dispensers to the big
man’s sleigh. There is, however, no need for the (good) boys and girls around the world to worry, for every year Santa’s journey is tracked by the men and women of the North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD), who ensure that he and his reindeer make safe progress during their crucial Christmas Eve sortie.
This year will be no exception, and starting early in the morning of 24 December, 2002, NORAD personnel will be picking up Santa on their consoles. Based on careful record-keeping from years past, and employing highly skilled radar and satellite technicians, NORAD can usually determine exactly where Santa is throughout Christmas Eve.
A
map of the world will be posted on www.noradsanta.org
from Christmas Eve that will pinpoint a few of the thousands of places Santa
visits. NORAD will be updating the map all night long, showing you where
Santa is at every moment, where he's been and where he's going. Clicking
on that map will display SantaCam videos of his journey. NORAD uses four high-tech systems to track Santa: radar, satellites, SantaCams and jet fighters. It all starts with the NORAD radar system, the North Warning System. This powerful radar system has 47 installations strung across Canada's North as well as Alaska. NORAD makes a point of checking the radar closely for indications of Santa Claus leaving the North Pole on Christmas Eve.
The moment NORAD’s radar indicates that Santa has lifted off, its command centre begins to use the same satellites it uses to provide warning of possible missile launches aimed at North America. These satellites, located in a geo-synchronous orbit 22,300 miles above the Earth, have infra-red sensors, meaning they can easily pick up Rudolph's bright red nose and chart Sant’s journey.
To track Santa on his momentous Christmas Eve journey, and to find out much more about the history of NORAD’s Santa-tracking, just click on the following link:
www.noradsanta.org/english/home/index.html
And Season's Greetings to all you janes.com browsers out there!
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| Santa helps out at NORAD (Source: NORAD) |