In a world increasingly dependent on reliable navigation, one company is quietly rewriting the rules—by thinking like rocket scientists. Literally. Psionic, founded by former NASA engineer Steve Sandford, began with a bold premise: that space-grade technology shouldn’t be limited to orbit. What started as a mission-critical solution for lunar landings is now transforming how we move on Earth, from autonomous vehicles to military fleets operating in GPS-denied environments.
At its core, Psionic is powered by one powerful belief—that the breakthroughs made in government labs should live beyond the laboratory. Sandford, after nearly three decades at NASA, was struck by how many revolutionary technologies remained shelved. Determined to change that, he licensed a powerful interferometric sensor, originally designed to guide spacecraft to pinpoint landings on the Moon’s rugged South Pole, and built a company to commercialize it.
The result? A navigation system that doesn’t rely on GPS. It’s called PSNDL—Psionic’s Space Navigation Doppler Lidar—and it delivers precise, real-time measurements of speed and distance in a way that GPS simply can’t match. In a world where GPS can be jammed, spoofed, or simply unavailable, this is more than a breakthrough. It’s a necessity.
Psionic’s technology has evolved far beyond its space origins. The company’s SurePath sensor now enables highly accurate 3D velocity, attitude, and position data for use in autonomous vehicles, drones, and even backpacks for soldiers on the move. It’s small, light, rugged, and built for the real world—tested in simulations, hardened in labs, and validated in the field, including on an F/A-18 fighter jet over Death Valley.
But the path from NASA prototype to deployable product was anything but easy. The team faced the immense challenge of reducing a refrigerator-sized piece of hardware to something closer to a shoebox—or even smaller—without sacrificing precision. Every step required invention: building a custom navigation filter to eliminate drift, miniaturizing photonic components to millimeter-scale chipsets, and developing proprietary manufacturing setups to handle the delicate integration of lasers and silicon.
Along the way, Psionic had to reinvent itself, shifting from a one-off, project-based mentality to a scalable, product-focused business. This pivot opened the door to real-world applications—and real-world contracts. A $7 million award from the Department of Defense’s ManTech program validated their work and accelerated integration into Army platforms. And with new demos and commercial interest, Psionic is poised to deliver solutions at scale.
At the heart of this journey is a passionate, multidisciplinary team—engineers, scientists, and innovators who share a common goal: to make meaningful impact. For many, like Director of PIC Development Amirreza Mahigir, the challenge wasn’t just technical. It was personal. Overcoming the fear of commercialization, and proving that their work could leave the lab and enter the world, was a defining moment.
Psionic is now entering a new phase. With its technology proven and its manufacturing pipeline coming online, the company is ready to grow—and grow fast. From reducing power consumption to exploring cell phone-sized designs, the vision is clear: to become a household name in autonomy. Not just a company with aerospace pedigree, but a brand synonymous with smart, reliable navigation.
Their message to engineers and entrepreneurs? Don’t let groundbreaking technology sit on a shelf. Build it. Scale it. Share it. Because whether you’re landing on the Moon or navigating a drone through a forest, precision matters—and Psionic is proving that space-age tech belongs in our everyday world.
Disrupting the Tide isn’t just a series—it’s a spotlight on bold innovation. And Psionic is the very definition of bold.