You can't move a sphere around by spinning it. You can only change your direction.
Spinning around, moving uncontrollably inside a storm, with very variable speed are exactly things that lost balloons do.
Spinning around, moving uncontrollably inside a storm, with very variable speed are exactly things that lost balloons do.
The magnus effect is a byproduct of laminar flow of fluid/air around a spinning object. Without laminar flow there is no force. So that is to say if you spin a sphere really fast and it’s hovering in air without gravity and without wind it will not move because there will be no laminar flow to produce the magnus effect. So in order for your spherical craft to actually harness the magnus effect you would need a separate means of propulsion to drive you in the primary direction and harness the magnus effect for thrust in a secondary direction, ie turn.