I like this idea very much. They are actively planning out building out a fully functional starship of sorts.

The impulse engines are actually  Ion Propulsion. In case you weren’t aware there are already unmanned spacecraft hurtling around the solar system called Dawn. Ion propulsion is interesting too. It’s not that it can do fantastic speeds, it’s that the accleration is constant. So she’s hurtling around out there are a pretty good clip.

I’d like to see the Enterprise proposal come to fruition in say a decade. That would be so totally cool.