A new theory postulates there may be worlds as large as Mars, or even Earth, that are as yet undiscovered in the Sun's Oort Cloud. The Oort Cloud is a shell of objects that orbit the Sun at the very edge of the Solar System. Some theorists suggest the Oort Cloud may in fact extend halfway to the nearest neighboring star, which would be the Alpha Centauri triple star system.
Alan Stern, principal investigator for the New Horizons mission now on its way to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt-- a region far out from the Sun, but still well short of the main area of the Oort Cloud-- has argued substantial objects could have developed in the inner Solar System only to run afoul of Jupiter's powerful gravity. Such worlds, he says, could have been thrown into the Oort Cloud.
If such huge worlds do exist right on the edge of interstellar space, they could be a boon to interstellar travel. That concentration of natural resources so far out would likely be used as a waystation and "topping off" point by a human ship headed to a star.
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