A growing cohort of tech billionaires is focused on etching their imprints on extraterrestrial realms. Elon Musk wants to create a moon base and send humans to Mars. Jeff Bezos is testing a massive new rocket for outer space. And Jared Isaacman, the aerospace entrepreneur and Trump’s nominee for NASA administrator, backs colonizing Mars.
Exciting ventures all, but in their gumption, they've lost perspective on an opportunity here on planet Earth. The American heartland is increasingly isolated from the innovation economies that made such billionaires so wealthy. Musk, Bezos, Isaacman, and other tech billionaires should harness their immense power and contribute to a bold project at home: helping heartland cities reinvent themselves for the 21st century. The payoff from sparking Midwestern economic moonshots that create good-paying jobs may not be as romantic as playing out some Star Trek fantasy, but America needs tech billionaires to step into a more civic-minded role—and the rewards are likely to be profound.
