The Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) is a key component of the Earth Observing System (EOS) program. The CERES instruments provide radiometric measurements of the Earth's atmosphere from three broadband channels. The CERES missions are a follow-on to the successful Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE) mission. The first CERES instrument (PFM) was launched on November 27, 1997 as part of the completed Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM).

There are now six operational CERES instruments. Two CERES instruments (FM1 and FM2) were launched into polar orbit on board the EOS flagship Terra on December 18, 1999. Two additional CERES instruments (FM3 and FM4) were launched on board EOS Aqua on May 4, 2002. CERES instrument (FM5) was launched on board the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (NPP) satellite on October 28, 2011. The final CERES instrument (FM6) was launched on board the National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration's (NOAA) Joint Polar Satellite System 1 (JPSS-1) satellite on November 18, 2017.