File Allocation Table is a computer file system architecture and a family of industry-standard file systems utilizing it. The FAT file system is a continuing standard which borrows source code from the original, legacy file system and proves to be simple and robust, it offers useful performance in lightweight implementations, but cannot deliver the same performance and scalability as some modern file systems. It is, supported for compatibility reasons by nearly all developed operating systems for personal computers and many mobile devices and embedded systems, thus is a well-suited format for data exchange between computers and devices of any type and age from 1981 up to the present. Designed in 1977 for use on floppy disks, FAT was soon adapted and used universally on hard disks throughout the DOS and Windows 9x eras for two decades; as disk drives evolved, the capabilities of the file system have been extended accordingly, resulting in three major file system variants: FAT12, FAT16 and FAT32.

The FAT standard has been expanded in other ways while preserving backward compatibility with existing software. With the introduction of more powerful computers and operating systems, as well as the development of more complex file systems for them, FAT is no longer the default file system for usage on Microsoft Windows computers. FAT file systems are still found on floppy disks and other solid-state memory cards and modules, as well as many portable and embedded devices. FAT is the standard file system for digital cameras per the DCF specification; the name of the file system originates from the file system's prominent usage of an index table, the File Allocation Table, statically allocated at the time of formatting. The table contains entries for a contiguous area of disk storage; each entry contains either the number of the next cluster in the file, or else a marker indicating the end of the file, unused disk space, or special reserved areas of the disk. The root directory of the disk contains the number of the first cluster of each file in that directory.

In much the same way, sub-directories are implemented as special files containing the directory entries of their respective files. Designed as an 8-bit file system, the maximum number of clusters has been increased as disk drives have evolved, so the number of bits used to identify each cluster has grown; the successive major variants of the FAT format are named after the number of table element bits: 12, 16, 32. Except for the original 8-bit FAT precursor, each of these variants is still in use; the FAT standard has been expanded in other ways while preserving backward compatibility with existing software. The FAT file system has a long history of usage on desktops and portable computers, it is used in embedded solutions. FAT offers reasonably good performance and robustness in light-weight implementations, it is therefore adopted and supported by all existing operating systems for personal computers as well as some home computers and a multitude of embedded systems. This makes it a useful format for solid-state memory cards and a convenient way to share data between operating systems.

FAT file systems are the default file system for removable media and as such are found on floppy disks, super-floppies and flash memory cards or USB flash drives and are supported by most portable devices such as PDAs, digital cameras, media players, or mobile phones. While FAT12 is omnipresent on floppy disks, FAT16 and FAT32 are found on the larger media. FAT was commonly used on hard disks throughout the DOS and Windows 9x eras, but its use on hard drives has declined since the introduction of Windows XP, which uses the newer NTFS. FAT is still used in hard drives expected to be used by multiple operating systems, such as in shared Windows, GNU/Linux and DOS environments. Due to the widespread use of FAT-formatted media, many operating systems provide support for FAT through official or third-party file system handlers. For example, OS/2, GNU/Linux, FreeBSD and BeOS provide built-in support for FAT though they support more sophisticated file systems such as ext4 or btrfs. Mac OS 9 and macOS support FAT file systems on volumes other than the boot disk.

AmigaOS supports FAT through the CrossDOS package. For many purposes, the NTFS file system is superior to FAT in terms of features and reliability; the availability of NTFS-3G since mid-2006 has led to much improved NTFS support in Unix-like operating systems alleviating this concern. It is still not possible to use NTFS in DOS-like operating systems without third-party drivers, which in turn makes it difficult to use a DOS floppy for recovery purposes. Microsoft provided a Recovery Console to work around this issue, but for security reasons it limited what could be done through the Recovery Console by default; the movement of recovery utilities to boot CDs based on BartPE, Linux, or WinPE is eroding this drawback, but the complexity of NTFS prevents its implementation in light-weight operating systems or most embedded systems. The DCF file system adopted by all digital cameras

Conscience of the Fatherland was a populist political party in Bolivia in the late 20th century. The party was led by Carlos Palenque. CONDEPA was founded in Tiwanaku on September 21, 1988; the party was based in the La Paz Department. CONDEPA was the first major party in Bolivia that appealed to the cultural identity of the Aymaras, the indigenous majority of the country, it used the wiphala flag. Palenque used references to Aymara culture in his campaigns; the party won strong support amongst urban poor, amongst Aymaras that had migrated to the urban centres. CONDEPA lost the mayoral post of La Paz in 1995. At the time of the 1999 elections the CONDEPA was a party in crisis, it was discredited by having entered into Hugo Banzer's government. The party had suffered the death of its leader Carlos Palenque, divisions had erupted amongst his successors. Moreover, the influence of the mass media connected to the party had decreased significantly; as the party lost the municipal contest in El Alto in these elections, it lost its last remaining political stronghold in the country.

Ahead of the 2002 general election, CONDEPA launched Nicolás Valdivia as its presidential candidate and Esperanza Huanca as vice-presidential candidate. CONDEPA lost all of its 22 seats in the Congress of Bolivia in the elections; the implosion of CONDEPA enabled the nascent Movement for Socialism to gain a wide following amongst indigenous urban poor. CONDEPA-Patriotic Movement lost its registration at the National Electoral Court shortly after the 2002 election

AS-103 was the third orbital flight test of a boilerplate Apollo spacecraft, the first flight of a Pegasus micrometeroid detection satellite. Known as SA-9, it was the third operational launch of a two-stage Saturn I launch vehicle. Of 12 flight objectives assigned, two were concerned with the operation of the Pegasus satellite, eight with launch vehicle systems performance, one with jettisoning the launch escape system, one with separation of the boilerplate spacecraft; the satellite objectives were demonstration of the functional operations of the mechanical and electronic systems and evaluation of meteoroid data sampling in near-Earth orbit. Since the launch trajectory was designed to insert the Pegasus satellite into the proper orbit, it differed from the trajectory used in missions AS-101 and AS-102; the launch vehicle consisted of an S-I first stage, an S-IV second stage, an instrument unit. The spacecraft consisted of a boilerplate command and service module, a launch escape system, a service module/launch vehicle adapter.

The Pegasus 1 satellite was enclosed within the service module, attached to the S-IV stage. The orbital configuration consisted of the satellite mounted on the adapter, which remained attached to the instrument unit and the expended S-IV stage; the vehicle was launched from Cape Kennedy Launch Complex 37B at 09:37:03 a.m. EST. on February 16, 1965. A hold of 1 hour and 7 minutes was caused by a power failure in the Eastern Test Range flight safety computer. A built-in hold of 30 minutes was used to discharge and recharge a battery in the Pegasus satellite as a check that it was functioning properly; the launch was normal, the spacecraft was inserted into orbit 10.5 minutes after launch. The launch escape system was jettisoned during launch and the command module was jettisoned after orbital insertion; the Pegasus satellite weighed 3980 pounds and was 208 by 84 by 95 inches. The width of the deployed wings was 96 feet; the total mass placed in orbit was 33,895 pounds. The perigee was 307.8 miles, the apogee was 461.9 miles, the orbital inclination was 31.76°.

The trajectory and space-fixed velocity were nearly as planned. The Apollo shroud separated from the Pegasus satellite about 804 seconds after lift-off, deployment of two meteoroid detection panel wings of the Pegasus satellite commenced about 1 minute later; the predicted useful lifetime of Pegasus A in orbit was 1188 days. The satellite was commanded off on August 29, 1968. Although minor malfunctions occurred in both the launch vehicle and the Pegasus A satellite, mission AS-103 was a success in that all objectives were met; the spacecraft remained in orbit until July 10, 1985, when it re-entered the atmosphere and landed in the ocean. This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. NSSDC: SA-9 SA-9/Apollo firing test report Saturn SA-9/Pegasus A Postflight Trajectory