The only ways the comet is going to become brighter is if some more outgassing occurs or more ice is exposed from shedding or whatever is causing the outburst in visibility.

The dust cloud hides the details of the coma, but there are signs of a tail and possibly jets fron outgassing. I suspect the dust cloud will obscure any clear detail views of a tail and or jets, but the dust as opposed to gas helps keep the comet bright in the form of reflection. Another reason it will be hard to see a tail is the angle at which Earth is while Holmes is leaving the sun, as the tail will be downstream.

Like you said it would be nice to have a satellite nearby but getting there quickly isn’t going to happen. Deep Impact took six months to get to comet Temple 1 at 83 million miles from earth and by then all signs of this event could be over.

Holmes will be around for several months so we could have plenty of time to evaluate the changes. I just hope Holmes stays bright for months instead of fading in couple weeks like its past history.