What's going to happen to the International Space Station (ISS) after it is retired? While international agreements work out how long the station will last after its planned budget end in 2024, one startup private company has a vision that could build a new station on pieces of the old one.

Called Axiom Space, its chief executive is Michael Suffredini, the former NASA program manager of the ISS. The company has ambitious plans to send up a module in 2020 to attach to the space station, then to remove that module when the space station program ends. Depending on what the partners want, Axiom could even remove pieces of the ISS along with its own module.

Amir Blachman, Axiom's vice-president of strategic development, suggests that such pieces could be salvaged and put to new use, including a storage module, the Canadarm (a robotic arm used for spacewalks and snagging robotic spacecraft) and even the Cupola, a 360-degree window that faces Earth.

"It's more interesting technology," he told Seeker.

Watch Live Video of Earth From the International Space Station

But, he emphasized, this is all early-stage speculation. Axiom right now is focusing on getting its module launched on time. If all goes to plan, Module 1 will have a capacity for seven astronauts and will be fully self-sufficient, including such items as a galley, sleeping quarters, experiment racks and life support systems. It would attach to Node 2's docking adapter, but also come equipped with its own docking adapters for spacecraft to dock (if feasible, considering sightlines, loads and other considerations).