See Moon Landing Footage as Never Before, Thanks to AI

Overview

We humans have dreamed of exploring the dark, sun-speckled vastness that engulfs our planetary home ever since our anatomy allowed us to lift our heads and peer into the sky. The evolution of our intellect has opened the doors of knowledge to us and has taken us further than we could have ever imagined.

One perfect example of our ingenious and perseverance was certainly the Apollo Moon landings. Our footprint was imprinted on the Moon for the first time on July 20, 1969, when American astronaut Neil Armstrong uttered his historic maxim: “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”

The images taken during the Apollo missions have been recently subjected to remarkable improvements using artificial intelligence, and the results are truly astonishing.

The science and other stuff to know

While today’s devices allow us to shoot at a video resolution of 60—or even higher—frames per second (fps), cameras recorded moonwalks at as low as 1 fps. To make the videos better quality and enhance the original Apollo film, a photo and film restoration professional known on YouTube as DutchSteamMachine has used an AI called Depth-Aware video frame INterpolation, or DAIN for short, producing stunningly clear and vibrant video clips and photographs.

DAIN is an open-source algorithm free to use that is under development and continuous improvement. It works by adding frames between the existing ones, generating greater fluidity and dynamism in the movements. Check out the video above to get a taste of DAIN’s talents.