Our mission
Learning by doing.
To give students the chance to put what they learn at university into practice, especially in aeronautics, while developing technical and soft skills for their professional future.
About us
Our team,
our strength.
We are a University of Padua student team bringing together young engineers and enthusiasts with a shared goal: growing together through innovation, research and teamwork.
We are a multidisciplinary group of students from different degree courses, united by the same passion and by the challenge of turning ideas into reality.
More than a university project, LiftUP is a learning and human experience where every member brings their skills and learns to collaborate in a dynamic, stimulating environment.
We believe in teamwork, in the power of passion and in looking ahead. For us every result is not a finish line but a new starting point to improve even further.
60+
Students in the team
5
Departments
2017
Founded
5°/34
Best ACC finish
Our vision
From ideas to flight.
To design and build remotely piloted fixed-wing drones for the international student competition Air Cargo Challenge, combining innovation and experimentation to turn ideas into reality.
Our story
One aircraft
at a time.
2017
LiftUP is born
A group of University of Padua students founds the team with one goal: to design, build and fly a drone for the Air Cargo Challenge.
2019
Tullio and Marcoplano
First the Tullio prototype, then Marcoplano, our first race drone. At the ACC in Stuttgart we finish eighth out of nearly thirty teams.
2022
Kowalsky
Pusher prop, inverted V-tail and a special mission: simulated blood bags. Sixth out of thirty.
2024
Zephira
V-tail and airless-wheel landing gear. It flies a payload equal to its own weight in an edition with extreme weather.
2026
Midnight
A carbon twin-engine with retractable gear: fifth of 34 teams in Stuttgart, the best result in our history.
2028
What’s next
We are already working on the drone for the 2028 Air Cargo Challenge: preliminary design models, experimental validation and better manufacturing processes.
Want to be
part of it?
Every year the team opens its doors to new people. Applications for 2026/27 are open.
Discover recruiting