# Brian Manning

> Brian Manning is the co-founder and CEO of Xona Space Systems, a Burlingame, California startup building Pulsar, a commercial alternative to GPS broadcast from a planned 258-satellite constellation in low-Earth orbit. A former SpaceX engineer who worked on the Falcon 9 thrust structure, Manning reunited eight Stanford aerospace graduates over pizza and beer in 2019 to chase a question nobody had answered: why has no one built a private, encrypted, centimeter-accurate navigation network? In 2022 Xona launched Huginn, the first commercial satellite navigation mission in orbit, and in March 2026 closed an oversubscribed $170 million Series C to scale manufacturing and begin deploying production satellites.

- **Role:** Co-Founder & CEO at Xona Space Systems
- **Organizations:** Xona Space Systems, SpaceX, Power Solutions International
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** BS, Mechanical Engineering, Milwaukee School of Engineering, MS, Aeronautics and Astronautics, Stanford University, MBA, London Business School
- **Known for:** Launched Huginn (2022), the first privately funded satellite navigation mission in orbit, going from concept to on-orbit in under 12 months, Received the first commercial FCC license to broadcast navigation signals, Demonstrated what is believed to be the highest-power satellite navigation signal ever recorded from space - up to 100x stronger than GPS - without causing interference

## Career timeline

- **2010** — Summer Fellow at the Center for Space Nuclear Research
- **2011** — Student researcher at Stanford's Space Systems Development Lab
- **2013** — Engineering Manager at Power Solutions International
- **2016** — Joined SpaceX as Responsible Engineer for the Falcon 9 thrust structure
- **2019** — Co-founded Xona Space Systems with seven fellow Stanford aerospace graduates
- **2022** — Launched Huginn, the first commercial satellite navigation mission in orbit
- **2025** — Broadcast the first fully authenticated satellite navigation signal from space
- **2026** — Closed an oversubscribed $170M Series C; production satellites set to launch by end of year

## Achievements

- Launched Huginn (2022), the first privately funded satellite navigation mission in orbit, going from concept to on-orbit in under 12 months
- Received the first commercial FCC license to broadcast navigation signals
- Demonstrated what is believed to be the highest-power satellite navigation signal ever recorded from space - up to 100x stronger than GPS - without causing interference
- Broadcast the first fully authenticated (encrypted) satellite navigation signal from space in 2025
- Raised an oversubscribed $170M Series C in March 2026, bringing total funding to roughly $390M
- Built a satellite manufacturing facility in Burlingame, California

## Latest updates

- **2026-03** — Xona closed an oversubscribed $170M Series C led by Mohari Ventures Natural Capital, with Craft Ventures, ICONIQ, Woven Capital, NGP Capital, Samsung Next and Hexagon participating; first U.S.-made production satellites set to launch by end of 2026.

## Links

- Website: https://xonaspace.com
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-manning-x
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/XonaSpace
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGpCmBzo9Cg

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/brian-manning
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-06-14