output formatting - How to export data files using specific number format

Very often, I have to export data files from Mathematica. These output files contain several columns and hundreds of lines with data. For the sake of the question let's create a sample list:

data = Table[{RandomReal[i], RandomReal[i^10]}, {i, 0, 100, 0.1}];

Then, I export the data to an external file using the following command:

Export["data.out", data, "Table"];

Now let's take a look at the output file. I present here only the first ten lines of data, but of course the whole file is easily reproducible:

0.  0.
0.01599700768300292    9.144414172338937e-12
0.05264806593747054    5.191535295682516e-8
0.26762136311267287   2.6644991730537336e-6
0.01121545335019451     0.000014373686962031977
0.05282872336357303   0.0005555775821525191
0.39492299878320175   0.0005639987736085206
0.6483050598753638    0.016687867077835535

0.5871008451356092    0.029518547448633307
0.2613882661983659    0.046494918800056996
..................    ....................

My problem is that the format of the data is very bad. When I create external output files in FORTRAN I can control the exact format. So, I am wondering: Is this possible in Mathematica? Can I control the number of decimal digits of the data, using exponential form or even the gap between the two columns? In FORTRAN, I would use this format 2(4X,E16.8), meaning that the data would be in exponential form (E), having total 16 digits in total from which the 8 are decimal and finally the gap between the two columns is 4 blank characters.

EDIT:

Following cormullion's instructions the exported data files look like this:

0.0000000000000000E     0.0000000000000000E
0.0292206329521133E     3.5660981240075680E-12
0.0110286543632250E     7.1403083420409010E-8

0.1512525645232069E     3.4764180261918010E-8
0.1802104544376126E     0.0000150833977857E
0.1909866023262902E     0.0004442874170494E
0.1977662892883431E     0.0047809317792338E
0.1043698170574586E     0.0116230093104291E
0.2452055184319113E     0.0756524674940767E
0.4203148306922685E     0.0682570346613104E
0.4640953468992068E     0.6204923184434734E
0.4361142873366830E     0.8423302837693910E
0.3853270077185619E     1.9278084597534120E

0.9173409732335570E     1.9391384326481460E
0.2309798126928349E     6.9819944783354480E
0.9064707972602210E     55.0683061788128700E
1.1871007725662080E     47.5205793705051100E
0.0657321188104301E     165.0478398165293000E
0.6501851799068231E     261.9422532326231000E
0.1976942785179729E     83.6983691851117000E
0.1781317179022484E     877.1531182356240000E
0.9603071406080800E     610.9760718811238000E
1.2678697679679910E     2107.5934446883950000E

1.2555519112242100E     695.2293658225135000E
1.4503489860688380E     6300.5931889760220000E
2.3698084216652830E     9336.5466490215000000E
0.9495735185410430E     8100.1159435400300000E
2.3382755917778770E     18471.7912516294500000E
1.3595555295319900E     27021.6788394801700000E
1.1450366450215240E     20223.3331979412600000E
0.6496852979125343E     14269.5720554042100000E
1.4074545584871190E     22413.5903375179000000E
1.8790499719570280E     85437.5672819188000000E

3.0597774075552670E     37024.4278765415400000E
3.2694586701530210E     99567.9453873553000000E
2.7064643220362330E     226071.8308196532000000E
...................     ........................

As everyone can observe, there are some inconsistencies regarding the format

(i). The exponential part (E) should always have the same pattern; two digits (i.e. E-08 not just E-8) and when for zero it should be E+00

(ii). In some cases, the second column contains some additional (more than 16) decimal digits (in fact they are unwanted zeros).

I filtered this data file using a very simple FORTRAN code and here is the corresponding output:

0.0000000000000000E+00    0.0000000000000000E+00

0.2922063295211330E-01    0.3566098124007568E-11
0.1102865436322500E-01    0.7140308342040901E-07
0.1512525645232069E+00    0.3476418026191801E-07
0.1802104544376126E+00    0.1508339778570000E-04
0.1909866023262902E+00    0.4442874170494000E-03
0.1977662892883431E+00    0.4780931779233800E-02
0.1043698170574586E+00    0.1162300931042910E-01
0.2452055184319113E+00    0.7565246749407670E-01
0.4203148306922685E+00    0.6825703466131040E-01
0.4640953468992068E+00    0.6204923184434734E+00

0.4361142873366830E+00    0.8423302837693910E+00
0.3853270077185619E+00    0.1927808459753412E+01
0.9173409732335570E+00    0.1939138432648146E+01
0.2309798126928349E+00    0.6981994478335448E+01
0.9064707972602210E+00    0.5506830617881287E+02
0.1187100772566208E+01    0.4752057937050511E+02
0.6573211881043010E-01    0.1650478398165293E+03
0.6501851799068231E+00    0.2619422532326231E+03
0.1976942785179729E+00    0.8369836918511170E+02
0.1781317179022484E+00    0.8771531182356240E+03

0.9603071406080800E+00    0.6109760718811237E+03
0.1267869767967991E+01    0.2107593444688395E+04
0.1255551911224210E+01    0.6952293658225135E+03
0.1450348986068838E+01    0.6300593188976022E+04
0.2369808421665283E+01    0.9336546649021500E+04
......................    ......................

Now, everything is OK! Well, as Xerxes pointed out, why care what the file looks like as long as the next computer program knows how to parse it? The answer is very simple. Because scientists love neatness and order in their work and they hate sloppy jobs! Moreover, I refuse to believe, that a sophisticated and modern software like Mathematica cannot export data using predefined format.

Answer

This is a variant on Andre's solution (worked out before I noticed!). Anyway this takes the FORTRAN descriptor values as arguments.

f77Eform[x_?NumericQ, fw_Integer, ndig_Integer] := Module[{sig, s, p, ps},
        {s, p} = MantissaExponent[x];
     {sig, ps} = {ToString[Round[10^ndig Abs[s]]], ToString[Abs[p]]};
      StringJoin @@ Join[
                   Table[" ", {fw - ndig - 7}],
                   If[x < 0, "-", " "], {"0."}, {sig},
                   Table["0", {ndig - StringLength[sig]}], {"E"}, 
                   If[p < 0, {"-"}, {"+"}],
                   Table["0", {2 - StringLength[ps]}], {ps}]]


f77Eform[Pi, 16, 8] ->       "  0.31415927E+01"
f77Eform[-Sqrt[2], 16, 8] -> " -0.14142136E+01"
f77Eform[10^-4, 16, 8]    -> "  0.10000000E-03"
f77Eform[-10^6, 16, 8]    -> " -0.10000000E+07"

sanity check:

Max[Table[(Abs[{Read[StringToStream[f77Eform[#, 22, 14]], Number]/# - 
    1}]) &[RandomReal[{-1, 1}] 10^RandomReal[{-5, 5}]] , {1000}]]   -> 4.64073*10^-14

I must say as someone who works with Fortran quite a lot I have never needed to do this. Fortran can perfectly well read more generally formatted data. Unless you are stuck with legacy Fortran code that uses fixed field formatting for input don't bother.