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Satellite launch for commercial GPS alternative. Discover more Read Tech News Upgrade Tech Open Biz Account Xona prepares six-satellite launch for commercial GPS alternative. Xona plans to launch six Pulsar satellites in October 2026 to begin testing a stronger, more precise satellite navigation service for commercial users. Oct 9, 2026 - 15:10 Xona Space Systems is preparing to launch six satellites this month, bringing its commercial GPS alternative closer to operation. The startup's Pulsar network promises centimetre-level positioning, stronger navigation signals and improved resistance to interference, targeting applications that conventional satellite navigation systems struggle to support. Discover more Learn AI Tools Learn Engineering Join Associations The satellites are scheduled to launch aboard a SpaceX rocket in October 2026, allowing Xona to begin testing its service with commercial customers. The mission marks an important step toward its planned 258-satellite constellation, designed to provide precise location and timing information independently of government-operated networks. Track Satellites How Xona plans to improve on GPS. Founded in 2019 by five engineers who met through Stanford University's aerospace engineering program, Xona Space Systems is developing satellite-based navigation technology in low Earth orbit. Its approach builds on doctoral research by co-founder and Chief Technology Officer Tyler Reid, who studied how lower-orbiting satellites could improve positioning accuracy. Traditional GPS and comparable systems operated by Europe, China and Russia provide navigation signals used worldwide. However, their relatively weak signals can be disrupted by jamming or spoofing, and standard positioning accuracy alone is insufficient for some autonomous vehicles and agricultural robots. Xona says Pulsar is designed to deliver centimetre-level accuracy rather than the meter-level positioning typically available through conventional GPS. Its stronger signals are also intended to improve reception inside buildings and densely developed urban areas, where satellite navigation can be unreliable. Developing the system required solving significant engineering challenges. Rather than equipping every spacecraft with expensive atomic clocks, Xona developed an architecture that uses frequent communication with ground-based timing references to maintain accuracy. The company also designed Pulsar's signals to work with existing GPS receivers through relatively simple software modifications. This compatibility could allow manufacturers and customers to adopt the service without replacing large amounts of navigation hardware. Six satellites will begin commercial testing. Four spacecraft in the upcoming launch use satellite platforms supplied by Aerospacelab and follow a design similar to Xona's earlier demonstration satellite. The remaining two were manufactured at the company's Burlingame, California, headquarters and represent the design intended for its larger operational constellation. Once deployed, the satellites are expected to pass over mid-latitude regions approximately eight times daily, providing opportunities for initial customer testing. The limited number of spacecraft means continuous commercial coverage will require additional launches. One early customer is TimeBeat, a company specialising in precision timing technology. CEO Ian Gough said its engineers plan to use the initial Pulsar service to verify and correct timing information across devices operating in different parts of the world. Learn Engineering Xona aims to provide full coverage across the United States, Europe, Japan and South Korea by 2028. That expansion remains a company target dependent on deploying the larger satellite constellation. Funding and applications beyond traditional navigation. Xona has secured more than $300 million since its founding, including $20 million from the U.S. Space Force. The military's involvement reflects interest in alternatives to conventional satellite navigation as signal interference becomes a growing concern in conflict zones. Commercial applications extend beyond navigation for individual drivers. Precision timing supports communications and electronic systems, while improved positioning could benefit industrial robotics, automated agriculture and autonomous transportation. Reid previously worked on self-driving vehicle technology at Ford, giving him direct experience with the limitations of existing navigation systems. Xona CEO Brian Manning has also identified transportation safety as a potential long-term application, particularly for vehicles that must determine their position reliably without constant human intervention. The October launch will not immediately deliver worldwide GPS replacement coverage. Instead, it will let Xona begin demonstrating its technology to customers while building the satellite network needed for continuous, high-precision commercial navigation.

Xona s commercial GPS alternative is about to go live. Xona's precision timing and navigation service will enter beta testing after SpaceX launches six satellites designed by the company. The first precision commercial alternative to GPS is preparing to go live when six satellites designed by the startup Xona Space Systems launch into orbit this month. A service that competes with free signals provided by governments around the world may seem foolhardy, but Xona is hoping to add navigation and timing to the list of de facto government space monopolies disrupted by venture-backed startups. Xona was founded in 2019 by a team of five engineers who originally met at Stanford University's aerospace engineering graduate program. One, Tyler Reid, went on to earn a PhD, writing his thesis on the possibilities of using satellites in low-earth orbit to improve navigation. GPS and analog satellite networks built by Europe, China, and Russia provide huge value, but are also easy to jam and aren't precise enough to be used alone for applications like farming robots or self-driving cars. Over "pizza and beer chats," the friends mulled whether fixing those problems could be a business. "My knee jerk was like, this is dumb," Xona CEO Brian Manning told TechCrunch during a recent visit to the company's headquarters. "Why would anybody replace GPS? It's free, right? And I started digging into it. People think of GPS as a free service, but the market isn't the service. The market's the hardware, and you have billions of devices being sold every year; those things aren't being given away for free. There's an immense market that is desperately looking for better performance." That didn't mean the road to delivering such a service was simple. Improving GPS with a stronger signal that offers more precise timing and location data remained a technical challenge. The company needed to develop a unique architecture that would allow its satellites to keep time without expensive atomic clocks onboard, taking advantage of the spacecraft's proximity to Earth and close communication with ground-based sources of truth. The other technical challenge the company solved was making sure its signals could be received by existing GPS receivers with a relatively simple software modification. That gives Xona immediate access to the market and smoothes the way through the regulations for broadcasting navigation signals. Later this month, a SpaceX rocket is scheduled to launch six satellites for Xona. Four are similar to a prototype the company launched last year that proved its technology; those satellites are built around a satellite platform from Aerospace Labs. The other two satellites were built entirely by Xona at its Burlingame, California, headquarters, and are intended to be the foundation of the company's 258-satellite operational constellation, called Pulsar. Pulsar will offer centimeter-level precision for geolocation, instead of the meter-level precision provided by GPS, and its signal is strong enough to be detected inside buildings and in urban environments. Manning also believes its signal is powerful enough to deter would-be jammers and spoofers, too. Xona can begin beta-testing Pulsar with real customers once its satellites are in orbit and passing overhead the mid-latitudes about eight times a day. Ian Gough, the CEO of TimeBeat, a company that specializes in electronic timing, says the initial pilot will allow his engineers to check and correct the timing provided by its devices around the world. By 2028, Xona hopes to offer full coverage in the U.S., Europe, Japan, and South Korea. Xona has raised just over $300 million from venture investors since its founding, including $20 million from the U.S. Space Force. While the company is focused on offering a commercial service, the U.S. government is clearly interested in the technology, as jamming and spoofing of satellite navigation services become increasingly common in conflicts. While there are literally billions of potential users for a new precision timing signal, Xona is also looking ahead to a world of growing autonomy. Reid, whose thesis inspired the company and who now serves as its CTO, worked on self-driving cars at Ford and saw that a service like Pulsar would be needed to realize the potential of autonomous vehicles of all stripes. Xona's headquarters boasts an incredible view of planes landing at San Francisco International Airport. Watching the jets come in, Manning points out that among "all the forms of mass transportation, the gold standard for safety is civil aviation. We see Xona and what we're building being able to play a big part in that to provide the service to a car, so you can feel as safe taking your hands off the wheel as you are laying back in an airliner."

Seraphim Space Investment Trust has invested $15 million in Xona Space Systems through its C share portfolio. The investment increased the fair value of Seraphim's existing ordinary share holding in Xona by approximately £52.2 million, or 22.0p per ordinary share. The valuation uplift will be reflected in the 30 September 2026 portfolio valuation. Following the investment, Xona became Seraphim's second-largest holding. The existing holding is now valued at $106.5 million, with the combined holding worth $121.5 million after the new investment.