NORAD Tracks Santa, also called NORAD Santa Tracker, is an annual program in which the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) purports to track Santa Claus as he leaves the North Pole and travels around the world on his mission to deliver presents to children on Christmas Eve. The program starts on December 1, but the actual Santa-tracking starts at midnight annually on December 24. It is a community outreach function of NORAD, and has been held annually since 1955. Although NORAD claims to use radar and other technologies to track Santa, the website merely simulates the tracking of Santa.