An artist’s rendering shows what Interlune’s Helium-3 harvester might look like on the surface of the moon. Photo by Interlune

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This spring, NASA paid Seattle-based startup Interlune US$6.9 million to build hardware that will fly to the moon, dig up lunar soil, heat it and collect data to determine concentrations of helium-3 so they can extract it. Interlune has already lined up close to half a billion dollars in binding purchase orders from quantum companies and United States government agencies.

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Canada doesn’t need to fly to the moon for helium-3. We can drive to Darlington, just outside of Toronto. But Canada is not yet using this incredibly rare resource as the strategic asset it is — leaving millions of dollars on the table and squandering trade-negotiation leverage.

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Canada makes helium-3 today as a byproduct of CANDU nuclear power generation, while other nations in the quantum race, such as the U.S., Russia and China, produce it as a byproduct of maintaining nuclear warheads. Since CANDU reactors generate helium-3 in a way other types of nuclear power do not, Canada is a reliable non-military producer of this important and much sought-after isotope at scale.

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If we protect it and stockpile it, we can build a powerful quantum technologies supply chain, create an economic juggernaut and stake out a stronger position in Canada’s trade negotiations.

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It is only when party-balloon helium (helium-4) and helium-3 are mixed together and undergo a process called dilution in their liquid state that we create the ultra-cold conditions in which quantum bits, or qubits, operate in — just a fraction of a degree above absolute zero, colder than the coldest part of outer space.

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The realization of quantum states is fundamentally a battle against thermal noise, and therefore most quantum technologies require sub-kelvin temperatures. That means cryogenic infrastructure is part of the hardware stack in quantum computing, quantum sensing and quantum communications — the next frontier of the digital world.

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The quantum technologies industry is already worth billions of dollars and it’s driving defence technology advancements. Helium-3 is also used in border security as the neutron-detecting material in large detectors that screen vehicles and cargo for any nuclear or radiological material.

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Its important uses and rarity put the current price of helium-3 at over US$3,000 per litre and climbing.

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That’s why the U.S. treats helium-3 as a strategic material and manages its limited supply through the Department of Energy.

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But Canada’s government is still treating helium-3 like a worthless byproduct to be exported. We don’t protect it, prioritize Canadian buyers or even keep much — if any — in Canada once it’s produced.

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With the U.S. levying tariffs on tens of billions of dollars of Canadian goods, and CUSMA under review, Canada is looking for leverage. Because we don’t have a strategic reserve, helium-3 is a bargaining chip we can’t use in trade negotiations. It’s a clutch player we’re leaving on the bench.