Chris McLain founded AscendArc make satellite communications cheaper than fiber. As AscendArc’s CEO he has built a world class technical team, developed and prototyped key payload technologies and signed AscendArc’s first commercial customer. Prior to AscendArc, Chris was a principal engineer RF engineer at SpaceX on a government satellite program and worked on the commercialization of Starlink. At SpaceX he saw first-hand the potential of manufacturing satellites in volume like consumer electronics. Chris was also a principal engineer and technical lead on projects at Panasonic, Lockheed and Boeing to develop highly efficient geostationary satellites to serve the aeronautical and other mobile applications. At these projects, he developed a passion for communications payload design and satellite economics that are at the heart of AscendArc. Chris has Aerospace Engineering degrees from University of Washington and MIT.