Old scandal....
The possible damage to one of the array arms goes back to before MGS entered orbit. It was a reason the aerobreaking configuration of the arrays was altered to minimise stress on the damages arm.
On October 11, the flight team performed a maneuver to raise the periapsis out of the atmosphere. This suspension of aerobraking was performed because air pressure from the atmosphere caused one of Surveyor's two solar panels to bend backward by a slight amount. The panel in question was slightly damaged shortly after launch in November 1996. Aerobraking was resumed on November 7 after flight team members concluded that aerobraking was safe, provided that it occurs at a more gentle pace than proposed by the original mission plan.