As Star Wars fans swarm to cinemas to see why Anakin Skywalker went over to the dark side, opponents of “space weaponisation” are accusing the White House of emulating Darth Vader by trying to use new high-technology weapons to control space.

President George W. Bush ordered a review of space policy in 2002 after a commission chaired by Donald Rumsfeld, now secretary of defence, concluded that the US could face a “Space Pearl Harbor”. The White House says space policy, last revised in 1996, must be updated to protect US satellites.