46 species of bacteria, fungi and arthropods were delivered by a Progress supply ship to the Station in July Cosmonauts Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Artemyev attached the package to the outside of the Zvezda module on 18 August Somecompartmentsrecreate theMartianatmosphere by filtering some sunlight and retaining some pressure Will remain for 18 months to study how creates deal with space radiation

By Mark Prigg for MailOnline

Published: 19:07 EST, 29 December 2014 | Updated: 19:32 EST, 29 December 2014

It is the most remote zoo known to man.

Orbiting 340km above Earth, the tiny enclosures contain46 species of bacteria, fungi and arthropods.

Strapped to the outside of the International space stations, residents must deal with temperatures ranging from -12C to 40C several times a day - as well as huge amounts of radiation.

The Expose-2 experiment on the International Space Station, which is home to 46 ddifferenttypes ofbacteria, fungi and arthropods

The vacuum of space is sucking out the water, oxygen and other gases in the samples.

Their temperature can drop to 12C as the Station passes through Earth's shadow, rising to 40C at other times, and undergoing a similar process to the freeze-drying used to preserve foods.

'As you celebrate the end of the year in the warmth of your home, spare a thought for the organisms riding with a third-class ticket on the International Space Station bolted to the outside with no protection against open space,' the European Space Agency, which runs the experiment, said.

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The animals kept on the OUTSIDE of the international space station