[ WP ] It is revealed that NASA has been deliberately holding back advances in space travel for the past 50 years . Why ?

Good morning, Doctor Chang. It's am honour to have you join us at the advance propulsion lab here at NASA. Your work in the field has been quite unprecedented. When we heard of it, we just had to have you join us. 
 
 Why, thank you. The pleasure is all ours. Now, on the first day of work for all our new staff, the first order of business... an initiation almost, haha... is to tell you about the three secrets. Take a left here. I see you've noticed it already. Yes, it is a fully functioning ion propulsion unit. We've had prototypes for about 50 years or so, but your work on the topic was simply stellar. 
 
 I know what's on your mind, of course. And that's the subject of the second secret. In the mission to the moon, we discovered the picket line. A quarantine of sorts, built by intelligences too vast for us to fathom. At an instant, we discovered that we were not alone in the universe. And, more tragically, that our childish antics were not welcome in the galactic neighbourhood. Any attempts for manned flight outwards were to be met with dire consequences. 
 
 Oh, and the third secret? That's why you're here. The information that the astronauts came back with was highly classified. For our own good, overseers were appointed to watch over our development as a species, to make sure we did n't reach further than we should. Not before we were ready, of course. The overseers are in this very facility. Can you meet them? You already have. You ca n't see them. They're microscopic in scale, a networked intelligence of nanomachines which you've been breathing in for the past 20 minutes. Welcome to the family.
