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This paper describes an application of the Generalized Extremal Optimization (GEO) algorithm to the inverse design of a spacecraft thermal control system. GEO is a recently proposed global search meta-heuristic [1], [2], [3] based on a model of natural evolution [4] , and specially devised to be used in complex optimization problems [5]. Easy to implement, GEO has only one free parameter to adjust, does not make use of derivatives and can be applied to constrained or unconstrained problems, non-convex or even disjoint design spaces, with any combination of continuous, discrete or integer variables. The application reported here concerns the optimum design of a simplified configuration of the Brazilian Multimission Platform (in Portuguese, Plataforma Multi-Missão, PMM) thermal control subsystem, comprising five radiators and one battery heater. The PMM is a multipurpose space platform to be used in different types of missions such as Earth observation, scientific or meteorological data collecting. The design procedure is tackled as a multi-objective optimization problem, considering two critical, operational hot and cold cases. The results indicate the existence of non-intuitive, new and more efficient design solutions.

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