The Two-Machine Timeline, Side by Side

Breeder and burner run on interlocking schedules — the breeder’s milestones feed directly into the burner’s, one program on two tracks.

Two tracks, one program

MetroVolt’s schedule only makes sense next to the breeder’s. The two machines share magnets, cryogenics, controls, and helium-3, so their timelines interlock: breeder milestones are inputs to burner milestones, not parallel unrelated events.

How the tracks connect

• Breeder construction (Q2 2027) seeds burner magnet, cryo, and controls experience.
• Breeder first tritium (~2030) proves shared foundations and yields helium-3 coproduct.
• Burner test unit (~2032) uses that experience for its first integrated run.
• Commercial fleet (~2036) follows the burner test, on the FOAK–NOAK–BOAK ladder.

The dependency runs mostly one way: the breeder de-risks the burner, so breeder progress is a precondition for burner progress. This is deliberate — it lets the burner attempt the harder net-electric goal on de-risked foundations rather than from scratch.

The honest caveat

Interlocking schedules share risk. A breeder delay does not just delay the breeder — it delays the burner that depends on it. The side-by-side view makes that coupling visible rather than hiding it in two separate roadmaps.