Real Starship Enterprise Just 20 Years Away? Stuff That’s Cool [VIDEOS]

If you know me, you also know I'm a Star Trek fan.  I don't think I'm quite as hard core a fan as some folks, but I did go to the Star Trek Experience in Las Vegas a few times before they tore it out.  So I'm enough of a fan to think that building a real, working USS Enterprise starship is a fantastic idea.  One engineer has that dream, and he says it's completely possible with current technology.

He goes by the name BTE Dan, and he is the curator of BuildTheEnterprise.org, a Web site, dedicated to the lofty idea that humanity can (and should) build a spaceship modeled after Star Trek design.  The best part: it could be done in 20 years.

Complete with conceptual designs, ship specs, a funding schedule and almost every other imaginable detail, the BTE website was launched just this week and covers almost every aspect of how the project could be done. This Enterprise would be built entirely in space, have a rotating gravity section inside of the saucer, and be similar in size with the same look as the USS Enterprise that we know from classic "Star Trek."

[via msnbc.com.]

At the time of writing this, the Build The Enterprise site would not load (server crash?), but MSNBC reports that the ship would be able to travel to the moon in three days, and to Mars in 90 days.

While faster-than-light "warp" engines are out of the question (for now), BTE Dan says the ship would have an ion propulsion engine that would allow the ship to travel at constant acceleration, making it ideal for space travel.  The whole ship would run on four nuclear reactors.

Sign me up, BTE Dan!  Or...would it be beam me up?