Santa is coming, but when will he get here?

[Sgt. Phaserman 0]

Noone knows for sure when Santa will drop by your house. Well, almost noone.

 

NORAD, the North American Air Defense Command, a joint command between the United States Department of Defense, and their Canadian Counterparts, make it a point every year to track Santa. Since 1998, they have posted their tracking data online, at http://www.noradsanta.org/en/default.php]http://www.noradsanta.org/en/default.php[/url], where you can keep track of Santa's progress on New Years Eve.

 

NORAD uses 4 methods to track santa. a series of 47 radar stations, located way up north, track him when he takes off from the north pole. As Santa leaves the range of these stations, orbiting satelites, the same ones used to track missiles for the Missile Defense System, use infrared radar to track Santa. They lock onto Rudolph's nose, which provides a solid lock for the satelites, allowing them to follow Santa's progress across the world. The third method is called the "Santa Cam". these are strategically located cameras, linked to the internet, that will capture pictures of Santa and his Reindeer, through video and still photos. The final method, used primarily over the Continental US and Canada, is fighter aircraft. As Santa enters Canadian Airspace, CF-18 Fighter Jets from Newfoundland scramble to intercept and escort Santa. Once in the US, the Canadian pilots turn the escort mission over to US Air Force pilots flying F-15 and F-16 jets. Rumor is, Santa's sleigh is so fast that even the F-15, one of the fastest jets we have, has trouble keeping up. Each fighter is also equipped with it's own Santa Cam.

 

On December 24th, link up to NORAD and track Santa live!

 

This message brought to you by the US Marine Corps Reserve, who asks you to donate to Toys for Tots this christmas!

[Yillara Skye 1]

Thank you! I had almost completely forgotten about this! My nieces might get a kick out of this. The oldest is turning 2 on the 20th, her sister is just over 4 months old.