KEY POINTS

  • A film restorer shared restored videos of the moon landing on Youtube
  • Niels, the film restoration specialist, says he used artificial intelligence to improve the footages
  • Neils aims to bring the events of the moon landing closer to people on Earth

Space enthusiasts can now get a better glimpse of the moon landing that happened back in 1969, thanks to artificial intelligence and the handy skills of a film restorer.

A Youtube channel named DustySteamMachine, handled by a film restoration specialist in the Netherlands, has recently shared remastered videos of the moon landing and other lunar events online -- providing everyone a better glimpse of the historic events that took place fifty years ago. The footages, improved by artificial intelligence, have impressively made the scenes crisp and vivid.

The film restoration specialist who goes by the name "Niels" says he used artificial intelligence to stabilize shaky footage and generate new frames in films such as the NASA moon landing. Increasing the frame rate (the number of frames that play per second) of a video smoothes the motion and makes it look more like movement in high-definition, Space.com reported.

"I use an open-source artificial intelligence that has been 'trained' with example footage to generate entirely new frames between real ones. It analyzes the difference between real frames, what changed, and is able to 'interpolate' what kind of data would be there if it was shot at a higher frame rate," Neils said.

During all of the Apollo program's missions, astronauts captured details of orbits, experiments and various activities on the moon using 16-millimeter motion picture cameras which had about 1, 6, or 12 frames per second. The film industry's standard rate today is at 24 frames per second, and HD cameras shoot at 30 or even 60 frames per seconds.

When old videos shot at lower frame rates are displayed at higher rates, the motion appears jittery and unnaturally sped-up, "which creates a disconnect between the past and the person watching it," explains the film restorer. The recent introduction of artificial intelligence in its processes have greatly improved the results.

Neils hopes for the restored videos to allow viewers to see and appreciate the beauty of the moon landings, moonwalks and other events just as the astronauts did back then, albeit 384,317 kilometers away.

NASA's administrator said that the organization hoped to return to the Moon by 2024, if Congress approves the $28 billion budget
NASA's administrator said that the organization hoped to return to the Moon by 2024, if Congress approves the $28 billion budget NASA / Handout