Xona Space Systems is a privately held California company, founded in 2019, that is building Pulsar, a commercial navigation constellation in low Earth orbit (LEO). Pulsar is designed to broadcast positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) signals alongside the Global Positioning System (GPS) and other global navigation satellite systems (GNSS).
On 22 October 2026, Xona announced a $250 million Series D funding round at a $2.45 billion valuation. Six Pulsar satellites launched on SpaceX’s Bandwagon-5 rideshare the same month. Xona says four of them will begin serving customers in 2027.
Xona Space Systems at a Glance
Xona Space Systems is a navigation startup that designs and builds satellites at a production facility in Burlingame, California. Its product, Pulsar, is a LEO constellation that sends navigation signals alongside existing GNSS signals in L-band, and Xona says it is compatible with GNSS receivers using L1 or L5.
Pulsar-0 launched in June 2025. Six more satellites launched on Bandwagon-5 in October 2026, and Xona says four of them will begin serving customers in 2027. Pulsar-0 signals are being received and tested across regions of the United States and Canada, per Xona’s Pulsar page.
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2019 |
| Leadership | Brian Manning, co-founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO); Tyler Reid, co-founder and Chief Technology Officer (CTO); Patrick Cadariu, Chief Operating Officer (COO) |
| Production facility | Burlingame, California, opened April 2026 |
| Product | Pulsar LEO navigation constellation |
| Latest round | $250 million Series D at a $2.45 billion valuation, 22 October 2026 |
| Total raised | More than $570 million |
| Satellites launched | Pulsar-0 (June 2025), plus six on Bandwagon-5 (October 2026) |
| Planned constellation | Varies by source: more than 250 to about 300 satellites |
| Ownership | Private; no stock listing in the sources reviewed |
How Pulsar Differs from GPS
Xona says Pulsar differs from GPS in where its satellites fly, how strong its signal is, and how it guards against fake signals. GPS, Galileo and BeiDou satellites orbit in medium Earth orbit (MEO). Xona says LEO PNT satellites fly about 20 times closer to Earth than those GNSS satellites.
For background, see how GPS works and the explainer on LEO satellites. For the other options besides GPS, see GPS alternatives explained.
Signals That Share the L-Band
Pulsar broadcasts dual-band signals, which Xona calls X1 and X5. Xona says those signals sit alongside existing GNSS signals in L-band without interfering with them. Receivers that use L1 or L5 are compatible, according to Xona.
Many existing receivers can pick up Pulsar through a firmware update, Xona says. Xona runs a “Pulsar Verified” program for companies building compatible chipsets, receivers, devices and simulation tools.
Xona’s Stated Performance
Xona publishes expected figures for the full constellation in open sky. These figures come from Xona and have not been independently verified.
| Measure | Xona’s expected full-constellation figure |
|---|---|
| Position accuracy | 2 centimeters horizontal, 4 centimeters vertical |
| Timing | Under 10 nanoseconds |
| Timing traceability | United States (US) Naval Observatory (USNO), National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), National Physical Laboratory (NPL) and National Research Council (NRC) |
| Convergence | To 25 centimeters, near-instantaneous |
| Signal power | Up to -136 decibel-watts (dBW), which Xona says is 100 times GPS L1 coarse/acquisition (C/A) |
Xona says Pulsar-0 has run more than 500 transmissions since its June 2025 launch and demonstrated better than 2 centimeter positioning accuracy. Xona also says the tests showed commercial receivers can be upgraded without hardware changes.
Protection Against Spoofing and Jamming
Xona says Pulsar uses the world’s first range-authenticated navigation signal, with cryptographic protection against spoofing. Spoofing is covered in more detail in GPS spoofing explained.
Against jamming, Xona says Pulsar relies on stronger signals, custom waveforms and dynamic modulation. Jamming is covered in how GPS jamming works.
The Six Satellites Launched on Bandwagon-5
Six Pulsar satellites launched on SpaceX’s Bandwagon-5 rideshare in October 2026, and they fall into two groups. The Bandwagon-5 explainer lists SpaceX’s target date as 19 October 2026 and names PTS-1, PTS-2 and Pulsar-series satellites among the deployments.
- Four service satellites. These use the Pulsar-0 satellite bus architecture from Aerospacelab, modified for navigation. Xona says these four will begin providing service to customers in 2027.
- Two Pulsar Test Satellites, PTS-1 and PTS-2. These are the first satellites Xona designed and manufactured entirely in-house in Burlingame. Xona built them for a manufacturing cadence of multiple satellites per week, and they validate the in-house design before full production.
What Four Satellites Can Deliver
Xona’s 9 October 2026 blog says the four service satellites use two orbital planes, so all four can be visible together at times. Revisit time in the initial market is about 12 hours. Early customers across the US, Canada and most of Europe get 8 broadcasts a day of about 25 minutes each.
Each pass includes a short window with four satellites in view. Xona itself says four satellites are not a global navigation constellation.
Intermittent coverage still has uses, according to Xona. A Pulsar signal passing overhead can act as an independent check on GNSS data. Xona names critical timing infrastructure among the early applications.
Funding and Production at Xona Space Systems
Xona’s $250 million Series D, announced on 22 October 2026, values Xona at $2.45 billion and brings total funding to more than $570 million. Steve Jurvetson’s Future Ventures led the round. Payload reported that the other participants were undisclosed new and existing investors.
Xona’s announcement describes Jurvetson as a longtime SpaceX board member and an early Xona backer who previously backed SpaceX and Planet. SpaceNews covered the round as Xona began deploying satellites.
Factory, People and Capacity
The Burlingame production facility opened in April 2026, according to Payload. In October 2026 Xona named Patrick Cadariu, a Waymo veteran, as COO to lead the production increase. Manning told Payload the goal is capacity to produce 50 satellites a year by the end of 2027.
Payload also reported that Xona received about C$15 million (roughly US$10.7 million) from Canada to expand operations in Montreal, Quebec. That funding came days before the Series D.
Regulation and Timeline
Xona announced on 3 August 2026 that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) had authorized it to broadcast Pulsar navigation signals from a full constellation of more than 250 LEO satellites. Payload described Xona as the first commercial GPS constellation to win FCC approval to broadcast L-band signals. Xona says it will be the only FCC-authorized private navigation constellation operating next to national systems from the US, Europe, China and Russia.
Xona says more than six billion GNSS-enabled devices are in use today.
Constellation Size by Source
The planned size of Pulsar differs across sources:
- About 300 satellites, on Xona’s Pulsar page.
- About 258 satellites, as reported by Payload.
- More than 250 satellites, in Xona’s post on the FCC authorization.
For more on satellite networks, see satellite constellations explained.
Dated Milestones
| Date | Milestone |
|---|---|
| June 2025 | Pulsar-0 launches |
| April 2026 | Burlingame production facility opens |
| 3 August 2026 | Xona announces FCC authorization |
| 7 October 2026 | Patrick Cadariu named COO |
| October 2026 | Six Pulsar satellites launch on Bandwagon-5 |
| 22 October 2026 | $250 million Series D announced |
| 2027 | Four satellites begin customer service; timing service for early commercial users; planned military integration tests |
| End of 2027 | Target capacity of 50 satellites a year |
| Next few years | Full constellation rollout, per Xona’s Pulsar page |
Payload reported that Xona plans to test integrations with Army, Navy and Air Force assets in 2027. Manning cited interference in the Strait of Hormuz that, he said, has disrupted navigation for more than 2,000 ships. He named demand signals in autonomous vehicles and robotics, aviation and critical infrastructure.
What Xona Space Systems Has Not Published
Xona Space Systems has not published several facts. None of the pages reviewed for this explainer state:
- Service pricing for Pulsar.
- Named paying customers.
- Revenue.
- Satellite design life.
- Orbital altitude.
- A date for continuous global coverage. Xona’s Pulsar page links its planned constellation of approximately 300 satellites to continuous global coverage but gives no date.
- A stock listing.
Xona is privately held, and the sources reviewed mention no ticker or public listing. For more on space investing, see space economy investing explained.