My immidiate idea to create this, would be:
half a sphere with thickness
add the small spheres as objects around the edges ehere the big sphere has been cut in half.
add all the small spheres on the big sphere using a normal map or displacement map - like a golfball kinda texture or using the Bulge texture node..
Carsten Lind
Senior 3D Artist,
Maya Software Manager & Maya Instructor
LEGO Systems A/S