Santa will soon be delivering presents across the world and the North American Aerospace Defense Command, better known as NORAD, is gearing up to track his every move.
This year NORAD Tracks Santa (NTS) will be operating at the Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colorado, which will be transformed into a winter wonderland come Sunday.
Professional decorators will be coming in to decorate the NTS operation center for the holidays before the tracking begins on Sunday.
NORAD expects more than a thousand volunteers to help out with the annual event on Christmas Eve.
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"We track Santa with the same assets that we use to keep the North American continent safe every day, which is our jets, our radars, and our satellites," said 1st Lt. Sean Carter, program manager at NTS. "Even though Santa is faster than starlight, we get a really good image of where he is at all times."
Carter said military and civilian volunteers will start coming in to assist with NORAD Tracks Santa operations from 4 a.m. to midnight on Christmas Eve. Notifications are available on multiple platforms, like the NTS website and app.
Carter said their team of volunteers is prepared to help answer phones in eight different languages.
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"Last year we took a call from a group of kids in Ukraine who were calling on a little battery phone and they said all they wanted was for Santa to turn their power back on. So it's moments like that, that just give us pause and remind us of the global reach that NORAD Track Santa has and the um, the importance," Carter said.
The modern tradition of tracking Santa started in 1955 when a child dialed an unlisted NORAD phone number in an advertisement. When a colonel answered the call, the child asked where St. Nick was. Since then, NORAD Tracks Santa has grown into a massive operation.
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Byron Bradford, the Lead Voice Telephone Systems for Peterson Space Force Base, said he starts making sure all the equipment is ready for NORAD Tracks Santa three weeks before Christmas Eve.
"We've got just under 100 phones in this location," Bradford explained. "In the past, we have taken over 250,000 calls in a 20-hour period of time."
NORAD said though it cannot predict an exact time Santa will come down the chimney, it appears Santa only delivers gifts to homes after children are asleep.
In addition to tracking Santa, NORAD is responsible for monitoring all traffic in North American airspace at all times.
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