Black Mesa Research Facility

"The biggest embarrassment has been Black Mesa facility, but I think that's finally taken care of itself."

- G-Man

The Black Mesa Research Facility, B.M.R.F. for short, is the headquarters of the Black Mesa corporation and the primary setting for Half-Life and its three expansions, Opposing Force, Blue Shift, and Decay. It is located in the New Mexico desert, USA.

Overview







 * The Black Mesa facility was apparently built over several decommissioned ICBM launching and testing silo complexes probably constructed during the 1950s, which was converted into a vast civilian institute for the research of almost every conceivable scientific discipline. Several Half-Life texture files names contain the word "fifties", suggesting the facility is as old as from the 1950s. Some areas are also described by characters such as Rosenberg as "old" or "abandoned"; several areas of the complex are badly run-down despite the obvious fact that they are still in use. However the surface areas of Black Mesa feature more modern construction.


 * Black Mesa undertakes its various scientific researches in the facility, which is very high-security complex, as each employee is required to undergo a series of rigorous security checks to access most areas.


 * The complex is also equipped with heavy blast doors that may shut down in case of fire, explosion or other event. Overall Black Mesa can be completely sealed from the outside.


 * In the underground laboratories, administration offices and dormitories, the main sections are always indicated in important intersections areas, and follow color codes consisting of lines running along the corridors to the related location. Several colors can be seen running along corridors, disappearing each time a related location is reached. This is seen for instance in Sector C and the Level 3 Dormitories.


 * The facility is apparently self-sufficient, housing its own ventilation, plumbing, sewage, and power generation systems including a hydroelectric dam and multiple types of electrical generators and reactors, some nuclear in design.


 * The complex is dominated by a bewildering number of underground laboratories, test areas (including a powerful Anti-Mass Spectrometer), and administration offices, most of which contain very high-tech equipment, and even a rocket launch site.


 * The complex also features multi-story car parks (where only Black Mesa SUVs can be found), arsenals of nuclear and conventional weapons, and a local electric rail materials transport network.


 * Black Mesa is also apparently kept supplied by a conventional freight rail linked to the outside.


 * Despite being located in the middle of a desert, the underground and indoor sectors of Black Mesa are maintained at a "pleasant" 68° Fahrenheit (20° Celsius) at all times, enabled by Black Mesa's sprawling network of ventilation ducts.


 * As employees are required to live in the complex itself, Black Mesa contains many personnel facilities, including laundromats, recreation and sports areas such as lounges,  at least one basketball court, at least one swimming pool, a library, a video rental outlet, fast food outlets, food courts, cafeterias,  many vending machines and at least one bar serving alcoholic beverages.


 * The facility is well-populated by rest areas and dormitories for the employees of the facility. As Eli Vance reveals in Half-Life 2 that his wife and daughter lived in Black Mesa with him, it can be inferred that employees' families reside in the dormitory complexes as well.


 * The complex also has its own newspaper, The Mesa Times, although it is unknown if it is an outside publication or exclusively made by the company for its personnel.


 * In the event of an emergency, the "military" and "trained assassins", referred to as "a dangerous and very efficient clean-up crew" are to enter the facility. This suggests that Black Mesa has experienced problems with escaped specimens in the past and that a possible intervention from the HECU and the Black Ops is a known fact among the personnel. Possibly to deal with potential escaped specimens, or perhaps being a leftover from the facility's days as a military missile complex, Black Mesa contains many automated ceiling turrets, which, when activated, will emerge from armored cupolas and fire upon any moving object in their line of sight.

Personnel
Black Mesa employs in its facility two main groups of civilian employees: a science personnel and a security personnel, along with various other inhabitants including administrative personnel, service personnel and occasionally the employees' families.

The Black Mesa Incident
Occurring on May 16, 200-, the Black Mesa Incident is caused directly by a failed experiment in Sector C, triggering a Resonance Cascade. This leads to the invasion of the facility by Xen creatures, and finally its complete destruction.

Facilities


The various Black Mesa facilities are loosely grouped into seven Sectors, although some areas visited during the games have no known Sector.

Sector A Training Facility
Encountered in all four of the Half-Life games, Sector A contains the separate Hazard Courses used for training scientists (predominantly to the use of the HEV Suit) and security guards.

Sector B Coolant Reserve
The Coolant Reserve apparently stores the industrial coolant used to maintain Black Mesa's thousands of computers and machines. It is first seen by Gordon Freeman when he escapes from Sector C.

Sector C Test Labs
Sector C is notable primarily for housing the Anomalous Materials Laboratories, Gordon Freeman's workplace. This area contains the Anti-Mass Spectrometer (in Test Lab C-33/a), the initial source of the Black Mesa Incident, the starting point of the Half-Life series.

Sector D Administration
Seen early in Half-Life, Sector D is mainly a large underground complex of Administration Offices where the bureaucratic aspects of Black Mesa's upkeep take place, along with some limited research.

Sector E Biodome Complex
The Biodome Complex, a relatively recent area of the facility (still under construction at the time of the Black Mesa Incident), contains a series of Specimen Observation Areas, where captured Xen aliens and flora are kept and observed in artificial recreations of their natural habitats.

Sector F Lambda Complex
The heavily fortified Lambda Reactor Complex is the site of Black Mesa's top secret teleportation labs. The reactor is a huge device consisting of the Lambda Reactor Main Coolant System, and the cylindrical Lambda Reactor Core.

Sector G Hydro Electric
Located at the lowest points of the Black Mesa Research Facility, Sector G channels power from Black Mesa's rivers and underground Drainage Canal system.

Additional / unspecified areas
The following areas are either not linked to a specific sector, or their specific sector is unknown.


 * East Personnel Entrance - Seen directly in front of the Area 8 Topside Dormitories. Its name suggests there are other such entrances.


 * Area 7 Recreational Facilities - Whilst not seen in the game, a map of Black Mesa's tram routes in Blue Shift mentions Area 7. As Black Mesa's employees are required to live in the facility itself, it can be assumed that Area 7 contains comforts and diversions such as sporting areas, cafeterias, and other personnel facilities.


 * Area 8 Topside Dormitories - One of the many topside dormitories on the surface of Black Mesa, it features a basketball court, a small train platform and an orange flag of Black Mesa. Barney Calhoun lives in one of the Area 8 dorms, which resemble portable houses.


 * Area 9 Transit Hub - The Area 9 Transit Hub acts as one of the many transit security checkpoints throughout the Black Mesa Research Facility. Trams that pass through the Area 9 Transit Hub can be rerouted to both the Sector E, B, and C transit lines.


 * Black Mesa Air-Traffic Control - This building is adjacent a large airstrip, and is used to monitor and direct activity in the airspace above Black Mesa. Special clearance codes have to be entered at this building before any rocket launch can take place in other areas.


 * Infirmary - After his Osprey is taken down by Manta Rays, Adrian Shephard wakes up in a damaged Black Mesa infirmary, which appears to still be under the control of Black Mesa personnel, who are caring for wounded soldiers and studying Headcrabs under the protection of security guards. The infirmary is equipped with CAT and MRI scanners, which are still functional. Some areas of the infirmary, though, have been abandoned probably due to parasitic infestation, and have been blocked off with furniture and hospital beds. There are laser-based experiments taking place in this building.


 * Level 1 Main Facility Entrance - Never physically seen within any of the Half-Life games, the name of the Level 1 Main Facility Entrance heavily implies that it is used as a central entrance checkpoint for all the facility personnel. This facility is only seen written on a transit map near the Sector G Main Access Lift.


 * Level 3 Dormitories - Personnel dormitories. They feature dual bedrooms, a library, a cafeteria, and an Aquatic Center with a large pool. This is the area where Gordon Freeman lives while working at Black Mesa. His dormitory (Dorm 309) can be explored and indicates that the average dormitory room is furnished with a bed, entertainment center (with television) and a small bathroom with shower. Several areas also include carpeted lounges with wide-screen televisions.


 * Black Mesa South Access Tunnel - A tunnel leading outside the compound, this is where Calhoun, Rosenberg, Bennet and Simmons reunite after teleporting, before leaving with a Black Mesa SUV.


 * Old industrial area - It is visited by Gordon Freeman during the Half-Life chapters Apprehension and Residue Processing. There he encounters the Ichthyosaur and the Black Ops for the first time, and is captured by the HECU. He then wakes up in a near-abandoned part of the facility, mostly consisting of a waste processing area.

Behind the scenes



 * Series' writer Marc Laidlaw coined the name "Black Mesa Research Facility". He came up with other names during his brainstorming, including "Black Butte [unreadable] Missile Base" (located in Montana instead of New Mexico), "Sand Basin", "Diablo Mesa", "Mesa Diablo", "Diablo Plains", and "Fertile Plains". He states it is great fun for Valve to invent names for their creations, and then see them go out into the world and take on lives of their own. He also states he is very glad he decided to go with "Black Mesa Research Facility" rather instead of "Black Butte".


 * As with Aperture Science, the Black Mesa Research Facility / Black Mesa logo is directly based on the company's name, appearing as a stylized mesa mountain against the sky.

Trivia
The Black Mesa complex bears many similarities to both the Los Alamos National Laboratory and Area 51.

List of appearances

 * Half-Life: Day One
 * Half-Life
 * Half-Life: Uplink
 * Half-Life: Opposing Force
 * Half-Life: Blue Shift
 * Half-Life: Decay
 * Half-Life 2
 * Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar
 * Half-Life 2: Episode One
 * Half-Life 2: Episode Two