{"id":61639,"date":"2026-08-04T22:40:54","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T14:40:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/xona-clears-final-regulatory-hurdle-for-pnt-constellation\/"},"modified":"2026-08-04T22:40:54","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T14:40:54","slug":"xona-clears-final-regulatory-hurdle-for-pnt-constellation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/xona-clears-final-regulatory-hurdle-for-pnt-constellation\/","title":{"rendered":"Xona Clears Final Regulatory Hurdle for PNT Constellation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><!--[CDATA[<img width=\"200\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/payloadspace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Pulsar-Orbiting-Earth-1-200x200.png\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Pulsar satellite orbiting Earth. Image: Xona\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/payloadspace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Pulsar-Orbiting-Earth-1-200x200.png 200w, https:\/\/payloadspace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Pulsar-Orbiting-Earth-1-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/payloadspace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Pulsar-Orbiting-Earth-1-70x70.png 70w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/--><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Xona Space Systems has won FCC approval to broadcast its Pulsar navigation signals from a full satellite constellation, clearing the last regulatory hurdle before the company can scale deployment, Xona announced Monday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The authorization makes Xona the only FCC-approved private navigation constellation cleared to broadcast in the L-band, putting Pulsar alongside GPS and other nation-state networks.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis is a pretty exciting moment for us to get authorization to deploy the whole constellation,\u201d Xona CEO Brian Manning told Payload. \u201cThe ball\u2019s really in our hands now to run it down-field, start launching satellites, and get up in the air.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Finger on the Pulsar<\/strong>: Xona launched Pulsar-0 in 2025 to prove the signal could work without interfering with GPS. Since then, the company says it has logged 350+ transmission passes tracked by more than a dozen commercial receivers.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Xona says Pulsar is built to augment what legacy GPS delivers:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Signals up to 100x stronger than GPS;<\/li>\n<li>Spoofing protection through a dynamic cryptographic watermark;<\/li>\n<li>Compatibility with existing GNSS hardware through software and firmware updates.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Taking the L:<\/strong> Xona\u2019s biggest hurdle was proving to regulators it wouldn\u2019t interfere with existing GNSS signals in the heavily protected L-band.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Manning called the band \u201cbeachfront property\u201d, meaning that it is scarce, already occupied by critical systems such as GPS and aviation, and nearly impossible to build in without disturbing the neighbors.<\/li>\n<li>Rather than retreat to a quieter frequency, Xona engineered Pulsar to broadcast alongside GPS in that crowded band\u2014meaning it is compatible with 6B+ GNSS-enabled devices worldwide.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe hardest challenge about deploying a new service often isn\u2019t building the infrastructure,\u201d Manning said. \u201cIt\u2019s, \u2018How do you integrate with the user equipment?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With this approval, future operators seeking FCC clearance in the band will have to prove they don\u2019t interfere with GPS and Pulsar.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The bigger mission:<\/strong> GPS resiliency is a priority for the US military, but its in-house fixes keep stalling, and Congress is stepping in.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Space Force defunded its Resilient GPS program\u2014a proliferated layer of small satellites meant to harden the core constellation\u2014in the FY26 budget.<\/li>\n<li>The House pushed back in its version of the FY27 NDAA\u2014faulting a lack of senior oversight of military PNT and moving to consolidate efforts under a single official.<\/li>\n<li>In July, the House introduced the GPS Modernization Acceleration Act, which directs the president to speed up GPS modernization\u2014with commercial and terrestrial PNT flagged as a complementary fix.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>What\u2019s next: <\/strong>The first six Pulsar satellites are slated to launch in October, with initial operations set to begin in early 2027. Future spacecraft are already in production at Xona\u2019s facility.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cEven with just a small number of satellites, there are capabilities we can provide on an intermittent basis,\u201d Manning said. \u201cAs we get more satellites up, intermittent will become persistent, and then you\u2019ll grow to a full multi-satellite persistent view.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The post Xona Clears Final Regulatory Hurdle for PNT Constellation appeared first on Payload.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Xona Space Systems has won FCC approval to broadcast its Pulsar navigation signals from a full satellite constellation, clearing the last regulatory hurdle before the company can scale deployment, Xona announced Monday. The authorization makes Xona the only FCC-approved private navigation constellation cleared to broadcast in the L-band, putting Pulsar alongside GPS and other nation-state [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-61639","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61639"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61639"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61639\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}