During the 1940s, Dr. Homi J. Bhabha of TIFR started sending balloons up to an altitude of 25 km to study secondary cosmic radiation.

After five years all the facilities were consolidated at Osmania University and under management of National Center for Atmospheric Research & TIFR and around 170 balloons were launched.

After a few years with increasing demands for balloon flights, a relatively low population density and proximity to the geomagnetic equator, a permanent site at Hyderabad near ECIL was selected.

However, due to rapid development this facility is today surrounded by several population settlements: by the Cherlapally Central Jail in the east; Kamala Nagar in the west; and Electronics Corporation of India Ltd. in the south.

NBF also regularly monitors and analyses local weather at tropospheric and stratospheric altitudes, required for making decisions about balloon launches.