[Spaceships] Query: Can dirt shielding reduce an IR Signature?

[Daigoro]

Earth is an insulator, so you'd need somewhere to vent your heat if you don't want to cook your inhabitants. That's either out to the surface, probably with air or water cooling systems, or maybe into the surrounding bedrock, which would require more extensive heat exchange piping.

The other problem is that on Earth-like planets, the rock gets warmer as you go deeper, so how effective your cooling is depends a lot on the planet and local geological conditions.