Calm_Blue_Ocean
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Although not widely known, Black Mesa hosted an annual “rocket sled” competition. It was a chance for fellow scientists from various top-secret government installations to engage in a friendly little competition; soap box racing for adults, if you will. I was fortunate enough to stumble upon a few photos of one such event.
The rules stipulated that all entries be powered solely by “the rapid release of compressed gas from type-4a gas canisters.” “Quantum resonance cascade defibrillators” and “space-age polymers and alloys of any description” were also expressly forbidden. The first team to successfully launch a two man craft from a ten story ramp (painstakingly constructed by the Black Mesa carpenters) would be declared the winner.
Every year, “Team Mesa”, as they came to be known, constructed a crude craft from plywood, old wooden crates and other materials discarded by the Black Mesa facility. Their most successful craft (described below), housed 7 canisters, each generating 4,000lbs of thrust (5 canisters at the rear and one on each wing). The photos below depict scenes from the final year of the competition (the event was discontinued due to high participant mortality).
Photos:
“Ramp” – This is the ramp from which the craft was launched, notice the airboat for scale.
“Rocket Sled” – The Black Mesa entry, complete with tacky padded cushions taken from Dr. Walter Kliener’s VW Bug.
“Team Mesa” – The entire crew came out that year. The brave ‘pilots’ are a little under the weather (the annual office Christmas party was the night before…Barney was bartending). Note how the canisters are loaded into “pigeon holes” on the vehicle (using the gravity gun). A selection of canisters with different thrusts and burn times are kept on hand to experiment with. To launch the vehicle, the valves are shot off the canisters with a pistol and than the temporary barrier in front of the craft is similarly destroyed.
“Competition” – The Combine had a team that year, lead by none other than Dr. Breen (traitor!). Alyx and I took it upon ourselves to ‘take out the competition’ (we replaced their canisters with explosive ones, muh haha!)
“Launch” – Up, up and away! The craft leaves the ramp and soars majestically into the air. Notice that some of the spent canisters have fallen out and that one of the pilots is cowardly trying to escape.
“No Hands” – Look Ma, no hands! Showing off always leads to problems, however they did manage to pull off a perfect 360 degree vertical loop!
“Mishap” – In this launch the craft flew out of control and circled the entire compound several times. Moments after this shot was taken, the entire ground crew was dead (except of course for the G-Man, he’s one tough cookie).
“Any Questions” – Well, that about raps it up…any Questions? Yes, you in the back.
A few notes. This was all done in Hammer without using any console cheats. It is amazing what Source can do. To all of you who whine about HL2 not having any replay value, crack open the SDK! You can build anything and do anything your heart desires with the tools Valve gave you.
My future plans to harness raw canister power include:
1)Construct a canister ‘pinwheel’ which I can use to turn gears and power some sort of ‘machine’ (yes, I know there are simpler ways of doing this).
2)Construct a wheeled canister ‘rocket car’
3)Construct an enclosed rocket that I (Gordon) can ride in. (Note, I have succeeded in ridding the vehicle in the screenshots, but it’s impossible to hang on).
4)Construct an aimable ‘canister cannon’
A fun thing to do:
Make a large open map, fill it with canisters, set them all off (phys canister: high thrust and burn time) and see how long you can dodge them. Canisters can traverse the map in the photos in a few seconds and kill instantly.
Your stories or comments are welcome!
The rules stipulated that all entries be powered solely by “the rapid release of compressed gas from type-4a gas canisters.” “Quantum resonance cascade defibrillators” and “space-age polymers and alloys of any description” were also expressly forbidden. The first team to successfully launch a two man craft from a ten story ramp (painstakingly constructed by the Black Mesa carpenters) would be declared the winner.
Every year, “Team Mesa”, as they came to be known, constructed a crude craft from plywood, old wooden crates and other materials discarded by the Black Mesa facility. Their most successful craft (described below), housed 7 canisters, each generating 4,000lbs of thrust (5 canisters at the rear and one on each wing). The photos below depict scenes from the final year of the competition (the event was discontinued due to high participant mortality).
Photos:
“Ramp” – This is the ramp from which the craft was launched, notice the airboat for scale.
“Rocket Sled” – The Black Mesa entry, complete with tacky padded cushions taken from Dr. Walter Kliener’s VW Bug.
“Team Mesa” – The entire crew came out that year. The brave ‘pilots’ are a little under the weather (the annual office Christmas party was the night before…Barney was bartending). Note how the canisters are loaded into “pigeon holes” on the vehicle (using the gravity gun). A selection of canisters with different thrusts and burn times are kept on hand to experiment with. To launch the vehicle, the valves are shot off the canisters with a pistol and than the temporary barrier in front of the craft is similarly destroyed.
“Competition” – The Combine had a team that year, lead by none other than Dr. Breen (traitor!). Alyx and I took it upon ourselves to ‘take out the competition’ (we replaced their canisters with explosive ones, muh haha!)
“Launch” – Up, up and away! The craft leaves the ramp and soars majestically into the air. Notice that some of the spent canisters have fallen out and that one of the pilots is cowardly trying to escape.
“No Hands” – Look Ma, no hands! Showing off always leads to problems, however they did manage to pull off a perfect 360 degree vertical loop!
“Mishap” – In this launch the craft flew out of control and circled the entire compound several times. Moments after this shot was taken, the entire ground crew was dead (except of course for the G-Man, he’s one tough cookie).
“Any Questions” – Well, that about raps it up…any Questions? Yes, you in the back.
A few notes. This was all done in Hammer without using any console cheats. It is amazing what Source can do. To all of you who whine about HL2 not having any replay value, crack open the SDK! You can build anything and do anything your heart desires with the tools Valve gave you.
My future plans to harness raw canister power include:
1)Construct a canister ‘pinwheel’ which I can use to turn gears and power some sort of ‘machine’ (yes, I know there are simpler ways of doing this).
2)Construct a wheeled canister ‘rocket car’
3)Construct an enclosed rocket that I (Gordon) can ride in. (Note, I have succeeded in ridding the vehicle in the screenshots, but it’s impossible to hang on).
4)Construct an aimable ‘canister cannon’
A fun thing to do:
Make a large open map, fill it with canisters, set them all off (phys canister: high thrust and burn time) and see how long you can dodge them. Canisters can traverse the map in the photos in a few seconds and kill instantly.
Your stories or comments are welcome!
