I have to say I find @hanktanson's sentiment to be both more realistic and more reasonable than @Bluemanarc's. Not that such concerns are not real, but the probabilities of just a never ending stream of setbacks has to be reducing given the developmental stages the company has already successfully navigated. The work they have done is quite remarkable.
Remember; nobody has ever done this before. The road to doing the kind of thing they have done is a hard one, for sure. Setbacks and unexpected problems are to be expected. Many of those that have done comparable things are now either bleached skeletons along that road, or have become notable success stories we look up to for their perseverance and self-belief. As @hanktanson correctly suggests, management has actually painted a pretty clear picture of a winning end-game ahead of us. Yes there have been complications coming directly from COVID lockdowns, but the whole world faces these, and the bottom has not yet dropped out of the sharemarket. There is no reason to over-expect failure. It is always easy be overly pessimistic. It is much harder to sound an optimistic note. Especially in a macho competitive world like stock investment! The Fox and the grapes story comes to mind. But I think optimism eventually flows out from the kind of reports that AP is currently making. I expect that as soon as it is humanly possible AP will produce a working demonstrable product, and will be seen to have done the necessary preparation to take it to market in a sensible time frame. That is not to say that that time frame will be the one I would have ideally liked to see!
(20min delay)