While I like the overall idea, "no life support" sounds like a terrible design decision. I mean, would YOU implement such a system? I'd say all except life support systems go offline for the duration of the recharge. Oh, and just to put the cherry on top (so the PvP crowd doesn't go wild), make sure this operation generates a heat signature (so you can still be seen on the radar, as normal, and you won't go cold like during silent running) and make sure the operation cannot be cancelled once started.
Oh absolutely agreed on the heat, and no abort of course.
I say no life support during its use since even the most basic life support gives you a five minute tank, and if running it once takes a minute of this tank, you have four uses, thus putting a limit on it, adding a need for slightly tactical thinking, this also gives us a reason to buy better life support cause atm I can't think of a reason to bother.