Xona Moves Closer to Launching Commercial GPS Alternative
Xona Space Systems is preparing to launch six satellites this month as it moves closer to deploying Pulsar, a commercial satellite navigation system designed to offer an alternative to conventional GPS. The first production satellites are expected to support initial customer services before the company completes its planned constellation.
The upcoming mission will mark a transition from technology demonstrations to early service deployment. Xona’s first satellite, Pulsar-0, launched in June 2025 and has been used to test the system’s navigation signals and positioning capabilities in orbit.
Six Satellites to Begin Initial Service
The six spacecraft are scheduled to launch aboard SpaceX’s Bandwagon-5 mission. Four are based on a satellite platform developed with Aerospacelab, while two have been designed and manufactured in-house at Xona’s facility in Burlingame, California.
The satellites will form the first production batch of Pulsar, which is ultimately planned to include more than 250 spacecraft. Once the satellites are in orbit, Xona intends to begin testing the service with customers. Early coverage will be intermittent, with service availability increasing as additional satellites are deployed.
Designed for Greater Accuracy and Resilience
Pulsar operates in low Earth orbit, much closer to the planet than conventional GPS satellites. Xona says the system is designed to deliver centimetre-level positioning accuracy, compared with the metre-level accuracy commonly associated with standard GPS services.
The company is also targeting a key weakness in existing satellite navigation systems: vulnerability to jamming and spoofing. Stronger signals and a different satellite architecture are intended to improve resilience in environments where conventional navigation signals may be disrupted.
Xona has also designed Pulsar signals to work with existing GPS receivers following a software modification, potentially reducing the need for specialised hardware. Applications could include precision timing, agriculture, autonomous vehicles and critical infrastructure.
Commercial Rollout Still Ahead
Xona plans to expand Pulsar through repeated satellite launches and increased manufacturing capacity. The company aims to provide full coverage across the United States, Europe, Japan and South Korea by 2028.
The initial deployment will not replace GPS globally. Instead, it will establish an early commercial service that can expand as the constellation grows, offering customers another source of positioning, navigation and timing data.
