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Xona Space Systems has received conditional federal approval to broadcast commercial navigation signals from a planned constellation of more than 250 satellites, reported SpaceNews.
The FCC authorized Xona to broadcast in L-band spectrum alongside GPS.
Although the license covers a planned 258-satellite constellation, the FCC initially authorized Xona to deploy only 16 spacecraft. The company must obtain further approval based on an updated orbital-debris assessment before launching the remainder, and must place half the constellation in orbit by July 2032 and complete it by July 2035.
Xona also must halt transmissions immediately if they interfere with GPS, aviation navigation systems or other authorized spectrum users.
The company is preparing to launch its first six production satellites in October and is scaling manufacturing at its facility in Burlingame, California. Pulsar is designed to broadcast a proprietary signal in L-band, adjacent to GPS, enabling integration into many existing GNSS receivers.
The company is seeking to build a privately operated alternative or supplement to government-owned navigation constellations such as GPS, Galileo, BeiDou and Glonass — systems that operate primarily from medium-Earth orbit (MEO) and underpin military forces, transportation networks, telecommunications systems and financial markets.
The ruling expands upon the initial experimental broadcast license granted for Pulsar-0, Xona’s demonstration satellite, which launched in mid-2025 aboard SpaceX’s Transporter-14 mission. Since entering orbit, Pulsar-0 has completed more than 350 live transmission passes across four continents, validating signal compatibility with commercial receivers.
