Came across an article in Space: Science & Technology (a title within the Science family) for 27 Aug 2025 (vol 5):
Zhou, Q. Guo, W. Jin, M. et al. Adaptive Brightness Enhancement Algorithm of Small Celestial Bodies Based on Knowledge Embedded Art 0293 space.0293
At issue here is navigating about a small body- this journal, in a way, competes with Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets or Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics. But there’s a problem. In the harsh light of space (unfiltered Sun, no atmosphere to fill in shadows with scattered light) a body is either glaringly bright (the illuminated or ‘day’ side) or pitch black (night side). Zhou et al. demo an adaptive algorithm for auto-adjusting images to allow navigation with quite ‘normal’ cameras. This was certainly an issue for the NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft, having to navigate to Mathilde despite it being a dim body in the Main Belt, far from the Sun. The NEAR cameras had instead been designed for Eros, a brighter asteroid, and one closer to the Earth and Sun. Then came New Horizons, which couldn’t even open its main lens cap until it was past the Main Belt. Now, the JUICE mission to Jupiter has to avoid the Sun while it’s performing flybys to sling its way further out.