The cost to "collect" space junk is astronomical. The issue is relative velocities of their orbits combined with the fact that even LEO has a lot of separatio

The cost to "collect" space junk is astronomical. The issue is relative velocities of their orbits combined with the fact that even LEO has a lot of separation between objects. It's very similar to the issue of extracting CO2 from the air - once it's in the air, you first have to add the energy of entropy to un-diffuse it and then you need collect it. That entropic energy is ENORMOUS. And you can easily generate more CO2 to create the energy to overcome it than you are extracting because most energy generation is still fossil-fuel sourced. There's a very similar entropy problem with space junk. The energy requires is far higher.