Space Satellites To Track Santa; LANL Scientists Set Up Web Site Again

By RAAM WONG Journal Staff Writer

Scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory have once again put up a Web site that will use space satellites to track Santa Claus as he circles the globe on Christmas Eve.

For some Los Alamos critics, the plan raises questions about how the lab is spending taxpayer money. Shouldn’t the national security facility instead be keeping tabs on the Grinch?

The Grinch, of course, is notorious for ruining Christmas by sneaking into homes and snatching presents and decorations.

Not to worry, says Diane Roussel-Dupr, the mission control manager for the lab’s satellites.

"We think the Grinch is just a nice fairy tale and Santa is real," she said.

Beginning at 6 a.m. Monday, the lab will run the Web site, http:/ /santa.lanl.gov, where children can go to monitor Santa as he departs the North Pole

and heads west toward the

International Date Line.

The site will provide hourly updates of Kris Kringle’s whereabouts from Siberia to China to Mexico, with information about how those countries celebrate Christmas, before he touches down in New Mexico at midnight.

"As he travels the world, crossing time zones, he’s chasing midnight, hour after hour, and delivering his treasures to families everywhere," Roussel-Dupr said.

The lab estimates Rudolph and the other reindeer will be lugging 73,500 pounds of presents, give or take an iPod or two.

The lab has been running the Web site for nearly a decade and each year receives e-mail responses from children across the country.

When the two Department of Energy satellites aren’t tracking overweight men shimmying down chimneys, they’re orbiting above earth collecting data on lightning.

"We like to think of our efforts as another way to help spread glad tidings," Russel-Dupr said. "This is our present to the communities of Northern New Mexico."

Check out Santa’s trip

Children can begin visiting http://santa.lanl.gov  beginning at 6 a.m. Monday for hourly updates on Santa’s travel across the globe.