Navigation technology is on the cusp of a significant upgrade, thanks to new satellite systems operating in low-Earth orbit (LEO). These satellites are designed to provide stronger signal strength and improved accuracy for location tracking, making them ideal for use in dense cities, under thick foliage, and even inside buildings.
In contrast to traditional GPS systems, which operate from higher orbital altitudes, these LEO satellites offer a more resilient solution to the growing problem of GPS jamming. The added power of these LEO satellites means that they can penetrate indoor environments where GPS signals are typically weak.
The first six production satellites of California-based Xona Space Systems are scheduled to launch in October 2026, with early service starting in 2027. Once the full constellation of 258 Pulsar satellites has been launched, customers will be able to accurately pinpoint their locations anywhere on Earth to within several centimeters.
According to Adrien Perkins, co-founder and VP of engineering at Xona Space Systems, the added power of these LEO satellites means that they can penetrate indoor environments where GPS signals are typically weak. “Our higher power allows you to get into those jamming environments a lot further than you would with GPS by itself,” he explained.
Xona has already launched its first satellite, called Pulsar-0, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket rideshare mission on July 1, 2025. The company has also conducted live-sky jamming tests across multiple countries to demonstrate the effectiveness of their signals in reducing a jammer’s effective area by 95 percent.
In addition to providing location tracking services, these LEO satellites are also capable of delivering timing signals to customers in mid-latitude regions. Xona has already signed up several precision-timing customers to use Pulsar satellite signals in timing and synchronization services for financial markets, telecommunications, data centers, and transportation systems.
The prospect of deploying hundreds of LEO satellites is no longer daunting due to the advent of lower-cost rocket launches driven by SpaceX. This development has enabled the growth of megaconstellations with thousands of satellites such as Starlink. However, it’s worth noting that this technology has its roots in the 1960s when physicists at Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory developed the Transit satellite system.
The Transit system was designed to allow the US Navy’s Polaris ballistic missile submarines to pinpoint their own locations anywhere in the world. Navigators aboard a submarine or ship could determine their own location by measuring the Doppler shift of a Transit satellite passing overhead while also receiving the satellite’s pre-calculated orbital and location data as a transmission.
The development of these LEO satellites is expected to have significant implications for various industries, including defense and national security. According to Zak Kassas, director of the Autonomous Systems Perception, Intelligence, and Navigation (ASPIN) Laboratory at The Ohio State University, “organizations that place an exceptionally high value on availability, resilience, integrity, authentication, and precision” will likely be among the first customers for these new satellite systems.
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