ABSTRACT During the 20th Century and within the first decade of the 21st, electric propulsion (EP) has played an important role in space activities, and its importance has not ceased to increase significantly in the last 15 years. The potential benefits of using EP on a bigger scale could be immense, reducing the cost of future space missions. The main hypothesis of this paper is that EP will play an increasingly important role in the system of international space relations in the coming decades with deep scientific, commercial, and geopolitical implications. To prove this, we examine the historical evolution, relevance, and future applications of such a propulsion system. Although there is extensive technical literature on EP, only a few works analyze electric space propulsion from an interdisciplinary perspective. On the contrary, much of the available information only provides an atomized, unipolar, and fragmented approach to the phenomenon. To fill this gap, this study presents an integrated analysis of the evolution, relevance, and trends of EP technologies, as well as their geopolitical implications in the space domain. The results obtained constitute a crucial contribution to the analysis of space propulsion from an interdisciplinary – socio-technological – perspective.