May 4, 2020

GPS was invented by the Department of Defense nearly fifty years ago. In the pursuing five decades, it’s found its way into nearly every facet of life, from the directions you follow and the plane on which you fly to the food you order and the groceries you purchase. Yet in those fifty years, the technology has failed to advance to a place where it can be used for the interconnected and autonomous age. GPS in cars and phones is accurate only to a few meters (or worse, if supporting systems like cellular, bluetooth, and wifi are unavailable) and autonomous vehicles need positioning service that works to the foot or inches in busy conditions. Enter in any kind of environmental factor that might limit LiDAR or computer vision and positioning services become even more important. That’s the kind of problem Brian Manning, Tyler Reid, and their fellow cofounders set out to solve in building Xona Space Systems, a cubesat technology company developing precision and navigation for the autonomous age. Brian and Tyler both grew up in regions with blinding blizzards and quickly realized at SpaceX and Ford (respectively) that if we want to enter an era of autonomous vehicles, somebody must develop a better, more accurate technology than GPS. Since setting out to launch Xona last year, the team has grown to 10 rocket scientists from Blue Origin, Loral Space Systems, SpaceX, and Pumpkin Space Systems. Xona is already working on commercial applications of their Xona Pulsar technology and is preparing for orbital tests in coming years. At 1517 Fund, we’re always looking to partner with teams that are working on big leaps in technological progress and the Xona Team is doing exactly that. Some thinkers, like economist Mariana Mazzucato , point to government agencies as being the driving forces behind innovation, with GPS being the prime example. The Department of Defense did make a huge leap in developing GPS for the modern world — but it’s time to build something better. We’re excited to support Xona in doing exactly that.