## Can Interlune's Cold Capture Technology Fix Quantum Computing's Helium-3 Bottleneck?

Nearly $500 million in legally binding purchase agreements — that number tells you how seriously the quantum refrigeration industry is treating Interlune's helium-3 supply problem. The Seattle-based space infrastructure company announced on July 20, 2026 that its Cold Capture cryogenic separation technology has demonstrated production of 99% pure helium-3 from Grade A helium. If deployed across U.S. helium liquefaction infrastructure, the company projects Cold Capture could generate up to 2.5 kilograms of helium-3 annually — approximately tripling current domestic production.

The purchase agreements come from [Bluefors](https://quantumintel.tech/companies/bluefors) and Maybell Quantum, two of the leading manufacturers of [dilution refrigerators](https://quantumintel.tech/glossary/dilution-refrigerator) used to cool superconducting quantum computers to the millikelvin temperatures at which qubits maintain [coherence](https://quantumintel.tech/glossary/coherence-time). Interlune has also raised $23 million in venture capital and secured approximately $18 million in non-dilutive government funding. An AFWERX Small Business Innovation Research Direct-to-Phase II contract, awarded in November 2025, is funding scale-up to industrial quantities.

The math behind Cold Capture's potential: in 2025, the U.S. produced approximately 81 billion liters of gaseous and Grade A helium across multiple plants. Every liter contains trace helium-3. The challenge has never been finding the helium-3 — it has been separating it.

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## How Cold Capture Actually Works

Helium-3 and ordinary helium-4 are, as Interlune CTO Gary Lai puts it, "almost chemically identical, making them extraordinarily difficult to separate." Cold Capture uses cryogenic distillation at temperatures approaching absolute zero to exploit subtle physical differences between the two isotopes. The system is designed to integrate with existing helium liquefaction plant infrastructure rather than requiring standalone facilities — a critical engineering decision that determines whether the technology scales commercially or stays a laboratory curiosity.

The 99% purity figure reported from the early 2025 demonstration is the key technical claim here. Dilution refrigerators used in superconducting quantum systems circulate a helium-3/helium-4 mixture through a mixing chamber; the isotopic purity of the helium-3 feed directly affects operational performance. A contaminated supply stream introduces thermal noise and compressor inefficiency at exactly the stage where maintaining sub-10 millikelvin temperatures is non-negotiable for qubit [coherence time](https://quantumintel.tech/glossary/coherence-time).

**What the source doesn't tell us:** Interlune has not disclosed the throughput rate at which 99% purity is achieved, the energy cost per gram of helium-3 recovered, or the capital expenditure required to retrofit an existing liquefaction plant. Those figures will determine whether Cold Capture is economically competitive with current tritium-decay sourcing at commercial scale.

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## Why the Current Supply Chain Is Structurally Constrained

Understanding why $500 million in purchase agreements exist requires understanding where helium-3 currently comes from. Most global supply derives from aging tritium stockpiles — tritium is a radioactive hydrogen isotope that decays into helium-3 over time. Those stockpiles are finite, and Interlune is explicit that expanding tritium production is "extremely capital-intensive" and cannot respond quickly to rising demand.

A secondary misconception the company addresses directly: newly identified terrestrial helium reserves are not a meaningful new source of helium-3. Helium-3 exists only in trace concentrations in any terrestrial helium, regardless of the reservoir. The constraint is not helium volume — the U.S. produced 81 billion liters in 2025 — it is the separation infrastructure to extract helium-3 from that volume. Cold Capture's design philosophy targets exactly this gap.

The demand side is unambiguous. Superconducting quantum computing — the modality used by IBM Quantum, Google Quantum AI, and numerous startups — requires dilution refrigerators that consume helium-3. As qubit counts scale upward and the industry moves from NISQ-era systems toward fault-tolerant architectures requiring more physical qubits per logical qubit, the number of dilution refrigerators operating globally will grow. The Air Force's own helium-3 usage in superconducting quantum R&D programs is part of the AFWERX rationale for the SBIR contract.

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## The Lunar Long Game

Interlune's terrestrial Cold Capture program is explicitly positioned as validation for a longer-term mission: extracting helium-3 from lunar regolith at industrial scale. The Moon's surface has been bombarded with helium-3-rich solar wind for billions of years; concentrations in lunar soil are orders of magnitude higher than in terrestrial helium. The cryogenic separation principles demonstrated in Cold Capture are intended to translate to lunar processing infrastructure.

This dual-use framing — solve today's supply bottleneck while building the technical foundation for space resource extraction — is a coherent commercial strategy. Whether the lunar timeline is realistic within a decade is a separate question the source does not address. What the terrestrial program provides immediately is proof that the separation chemistry works at high purity, a SBIR-funded path to industrial throughput, and revenue-generating purchase agreements that do not depend on a lunar mission succeeding.

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## Industry Implications

The helium-3 supply constraint is a second-order risk that the quantum hardware industry has not fully priced into public roadmaps. Most discussion of scaling barriers focuses on [gate fidelity](https://quantumintel.tech/glossary/gate-fidelity), qubit count, and quantum error correction overhead. But the physical infrastructure layer — specifically the availability of dilution refrigerators and the helium-3 those refrigerators require — represents a genuine chokepoint as systems scale toward the thousands of physical qubits needed for fault-tolerant operation.

Bluefors and Maybell Quantum locking in purchase agreements with Interlune before Cold Capture reaches industrial scale is a supply-chain hedging move that reflects real procurement anxiety. It also signals that dilution refrigerator manufacturers are not confident that tritium-decay sourcing alone will meet demand over the next several years.

For enterprise buyers and investors evaluating superconducting quantum platforms: the helium-3 supply chain is now a due diligence item. Cold Capture's 2.5 kg annual projection — if achieved at industrial scale — would materially change the supply picture. Whether Interlune can hit that number, at commercial purity, at competitive cost, remains to be demonstrated. The early 2025 lab result and November 2025 SBIR award are meaningful milestones; they are not yet proof of industrial-scale delivery.

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## Key Takeaways

- **99% purity demonstrated:** Interlune's Cold Capture produced 99% pure helium-3 from Grade A helium via cryogenic distillation, with the demonstration completed in early 2025.
- **2.5 kg annual potential:** Deployment across U.S. helium liquefaction infrastructure could yield up to 2.5 kilograms of helium-3 per year, roughly tripling current domestic supply.
- **$500M in purchase agreements:** Bluefors and Maybell Quantum have signed legally binding agreements — the strongest available signal of commercial demand validation.
- **$23M venture + ~$18M government funding:** Interlune's capital base is modest relative to quantum hardware companies; the AFWERX SBIR Phase II contract is the key government endorsement.
- **Structural supply constraint:** Current helium-3 supply depends on aging tritium stockpiles that cannot be rapidly expanded; Cold Capture targets a different source pathway entirely.
- **Dual-use technology:** The same cryogenic separation system is intended for eventual lunar helium-3 extraction, but terrestrial deployment is the near-term commercial play.
- **Critical unknowns:** Throughput rates, per-gram economics, and plant retrofit costs have not been publicly disclosed — these will determine commercial viability.

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## Frequently Asked Questions

**Why does quantum computing need helium-3?**
Superconducting quantum computers operate at millikelvin temperatures — fractions of a degree above absolute zero — using dilution refrigerators. These refrigerators circulate a mixture of helium-3 and helium-4; the helium-3 is essential to reaching and maintaining the ultra-low temperatures required for qubit coherence. As superconducting quantum systems scale in qubit count, demand for dilution refrigerators — and therefore helium-3 — increases proportionally.

**Where does helium-3 currently come from?**
The majority of global helium-3 supply is a byproduct of tritium decay. Tritium, a radioactive hydrogen isotope held in government stockpiles primarily for nuclear weapons maintenance, naturally decays into helium-3 over time. These stockpiles are finite and cannot be rapidly expanded, creating a structural supply ceiling that Cold Capture is designed to circumvent.

**What is Interlune's Cold Capture technology?**
Cold Capture uses cryogenic distillation at temperatures near absolute zero to separate helium-3 from ordinary helium-4, exploiting subtle physical differences between the isotopes. The system is designed to integrate with existing helium liquefaction plants, which already aggregate helium from multiple sources, allowing recovery of helium-3 that currently passes through unextracted.

**Could new terrestrial helium reserves solve the helium-3 shortage?**
No. Helium-3 exists only in trace concentrations in any terrestrial helium source, regardless of reservoir size or location. Finding more helium does not materially change the helium-3 supply picture; the bottleneck is separation infrastructure, not helium volume.

**What is Interlune's long-term plan beyond terrestrial processing?**
Interlune's stated long-term mission is extracting helium-3 from lunar regolith, where solar wind bombardment over geological timescales has created concentrations far higher than those found on Earth. The Cold Capture terrestrial program is designed to validate the core cryogenic separation technology while generating near-term revenue, with the same principles intended to apply to future lunar operations.