The satellite layout design constitutes an important part in the satellite overall design. In engineering, the design of satellite layout design should consider not only the requirements of satellite overall mass characteristics, but also a series of complex system engineering constraints such as satellite temperature field distribution, electromagnetic compatibility characteristics and related mechanical properties (Chen in Research on the optimization design method of micro-nano-satellite layout, National University of Defense Technology, Changsha, 2018 [1]; Teng et al. in Comput Oper Res 28:521–535, 2001 [2]; Sun and Teng in Eng Optim 35:513–529, 2003 [3]; Teng et al. in IEEE Trans Evol Comput 14:438–455, 2010 [4]; Zhang et al. in Appl Soft Comput 8:507–521, 2008 [5]) (Fig. 12.1). Therefore, in the theoretical study, it is required to start from the engineering requirements and consider the relevant engineering performance constraints or objectives in the layout optimization, thus ensuring that the satellite layout design scheme is more practical and promising in engineering application.