WASHINGTON — Xona Space Systems has received federal approval to broadcast commercial navigation signals from a planned constellation of more than 250 satellites, clearing a major regulatory obstacle as the startup prepares to begin deploying the network, the company said Aug. 3.

The Federal Communications Commission authorized the California company to transmit its Pulsar signals in the L-band portion of the radio spectrum used by the Global Positioning System and other satellite navigation networks. The decision expands an earlier license covering Xona’s Pulsar-0 demonstration satellite to include the company’s full planned constellation.

The authorization gives Xona permission to place its independently generated signals near the GPS L1 and L5 signals used by many existing navigation devices. Pulsar won’t transmit GPS signals or operate on the same channels. Instead, its signals will occupy adjacent spectrum and use waveforms designed to avoid interfering with GPS, aviation systems and other services already operating in the closely regulated band.

The company is seeking to build a privately operated alternative or supplement to government-owned navigation constellations such as the U.S. GPS, Europe’s Galileo, China’s BeiDou and Russia’s Glonass. Those systems operate primarily from medium Earth orbit and provide the positioning and timing signals used by military forces, transportation networks, telecommunications systems, financial markets and other critical infrastructure.

“With this authorization, Xona will become the only FCC-authorized private navigation constellation to operate next to nation-state systems from the United States, Europe, China and Russia,” the company said in a statement.

The FCC decision doesn’t certify Xona’s claims about the accuracy, security or reliability of its service. It authorizes the company to use the spectrum, subject to technical requirements intended to protect existing users from harmful interference.

Winning that approval required Xona to show that Pulsar could transmit a substantially stronger signal without disrupting established navigation and aviation services, Chief Executive Brian Manning said. The company worked with the FCC, other U.S. government agencies, aviation groups and foreign governments to evaluate the signal and coordinate its planned operation.

“This decision is the culmination of years of engineering, testing and coordination,” Manning said.

L-band spectrum is tightly controlled because of the number of safety and national-security systems that depend on it.

“By broadcasting a new proprietary signal adjacent to GPS, Pulsar has demonstrated it can integrate into many existing receivers without requiring an entirely new hardware ecosystem,” the company said.

Xona says its satellites will transmit signals as much as 100 times stronger than conventional GPS signals because they will orbit much closer to Earth. GPS satellites operate roughly 12,500 miles above the planet, while low-Earth orbit spacecraft typically fly at altitudes of a few hundred to about 1,200 miles.

The company’s only production-class spacecraft now in orbit, Pulsar-0, launched in June 2025 and has completed more than 350 transmission passes across four continents, according to Xona.

The firm plans to launch six satellites in October on a SpaceX rideshare. The batch is expected to include the first two spacecraft buses designed and built at Xona’s new manufacturing facility in Burlingame, California. Four of the satellites were built through Xona’s relationship with Aerospacelab, a Belgian satellite manufacturer.

The Burlingame factory, which opened in April, is intended to assemble the remaining spacecraft for the planned constellation. Xona’s Montreal operation supports engineering and development.

The manufacturing expansion follows a $170 million funding round announced in March. The company said the capital would support deployment of Pulsar and expansion of satellite production.

The first commercial users are expected to be customers that need precise timing rather than continuous navigation. Telecommunications networks, financial institutions and data center operators can use satellite signals to synchronize equipment and transactions. Xona has said timing coverage would become more persistent once it has roughly 16 satellites operating. Navigation services requiring continuous global coverage would depend on a larger portion of the constellation.