diff --git a/src/js/angular/explore/controllers.js b/src/js/angular/explore/controllers.js
index e65a64c51..22e483b42 100644
--- a/src/js/angular/explore/controllers.js
+++ b/src/js/angular/explore/controllers.js
@@ -34,6 +34,11 @@ function ExploreCtrl($scope, $http, $location, toastr, $routeParams, $repositori
         return !!$scope.tripleParam;
     };
 
+    // TODO move this to core
+    $scope.encodeURIComponent = function (param) {
+        return encodeURIComponent(param);
+    };
+
     $scope.getRdfStarLocalNames = function(triple) {
         let localNames = triple.slice();
         const trimmed =  triple.replace(/[<>]+/g, '');
diff --git a/src/pages/explore.html b/src/pages/explore.html
index 65ac496e5..1ef420532 100644
--- a/src/pages/explore.html
+++ b/src/pages/explore.html
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ <h1>
 
         <p ng-show="{{details.comment}}" data-escape="false">{{details.comment}}</p>
         <p>
-            <span>Target:</span>&nbsp;<a href="sparql?query=describe{{tripleParam}}">{{tripleParam}}</a>
+            <span>Target:</span>&nbsp;<a href="sparql?query=describe%20{{encodeURIComponent(tripleParam)}}">{{tripleParam}}</a>
         </p>
     </div>